Invictus
by Entori
Summary: Arriving three years before the main story starts, will a regular guy from another dimension in the body of a young pallum girl be able to sufficiently prepare for the trials that are sure to come? Slow burn. Updates irregular.
1. Chapter 1

"What?", was the only thing I could force myself to say after a long time of simply staring at my new surroundings. Not only I had no recollection of how I ended up where I was currently standing, but I was pretty sure I've also left behind good ol' Terra.

I wisely used the small time window I expected to have between complete utter shock and a nervous breakdown to check out my vicinity in more detail besides the obvious 'Hey, this looks like a generic High Middle Ages city with obvious magical influence and a high percentage of non-human people' thing.

After a quick glance around I could identify about four obviously distinct races in the small crowd around me. The most obvious race was the people with animal features. I saw a few guys with cat ears and tails, a few with dog parts and even a huge dude with bunny ears. The other three was the usual elf, dwarf and hobbit trio of races. Although if you squinted right, the hobbit-like guy might pass as a child, but for some reason, I could only see him as an adult. Weird.

The second thing my quick glance allowed me to discover is that I'm seriously short for some reason. After puberty, it was pretty rare for me to bump into someone that was taller than me, so this is seriously disconcerting for me right now.

Did I get shrunk? Have I been de-aged? Are the people around me just freakishly tall?

As I took a closer look at myself to try and discern which of those is the correct answer I have found out three things. Firstly, I distinctly remembered not being a hobbit before this, so I guess bye bye to my old body, I got fairly good mileage out of it despite how I treated it most of the time, so 'Thank you for your services'. The second is that the change of body also came with a change of not being male.

The third and most immediately important one is that remainder of the aforementioned time window has been rapidly used up by the last two revelations so it's 'high time for a breakdown'.

I quickly located a cluster of bushes beside the cobblestone road that would allow me to hide from this cruel world that keeps bombarding me with realizations that should be FUCKING IMPOSSIBLE. I like to keep my freakouts to places without an audience, thank you very much.

I spent the next indeterminate amount of time sitting behind the bushes generally being catatonic and simply staring into space in front of me. I spiced things up by occasionally rocking my body back and forth and letting out quiet whimpers.

Enough time went by for the sun to change positions where it was able to shine right into my eyes.

'Fuck you Sun! Can't you see I'm trying to have a well-justified breakdown here? Fuck.'

After a couple of deep breaths, I decided I've dealt with the situation enough to rejoin the ranks of somewhat functioning humanoid beings.

First on the agenda was to take stock of what I had on me, it might even provide a clue on where exactly I ended up.

I was wearing a simple gray coat above a sleeveless shirt that also had a hood attached to it. As soon as I discovered this I put it on right away. I wasn't very good with crowds even before, so I was gonna take every small opportunity to segregate myself from the wandering people on the other side of my beloved bushes, however flimsy protection should it prove to be.

My hands were covered with simple gloves and my feet in fairly comfortable socks and boots. The last clothing item worth mentioning was my shorts. Thankfully it wasn't a skirt, I think it would have been too much of a shock for my system otherwise. Overall, they were fairly comfortable and their make was much better than one would expect from a medieval society, so I guess magic played a factor in their creation.

There were only two other non-clothing items on me, a small dagger, which was still fairly large in my small hands, and a pouch of money well fastened to the inside of my coat.

I've yet to find out the exact economic value of the coins, but I still felt some relief about not starting out with basically just the clothes on my back.

The 'V' with two vertical lines across it on the back of the coins felt like I should know it from somewhere, but I couldn't remember after pondering about it for a while, so I guess no easy uncovering of the setting for me.

However much I would've liked to find a hole, preferably with internet access, and hide myself in it, I had to get going if I didn't want to spend the night on the streets. I had no idea what degree of public safety I should expect at night, but having been turned into a small girl I wanted to err on the side of caution, or even paranoia.

A few dozen deep breaths later I left my sanctuary behind the bushes and after painstaking effort, I reached the other side of the foliage and stood at the side of the road. Standing there I remembered I should listen to the people going by to determine if they speak a language I know or it's something entirely alien to me. Seeing those european style buildings, cobblestone roads and human-shaped humans and other humanoids made me forget that this is most likely not Earth, but some kind of alternate dimension.

I guess some kind of hyper-realistic virtual reality should also be in the running as an explanation, but even if it ends up being true, it would be basically no different than an actual different world.

But back to the topic of eavesdropping. I strained my ears for a while to pick up stray conversations from the people meandering about and I'm rewarded with the information that the residents of this apparently magic powered medieval style town or city in a different dimension are speaking japanese. Well fuck. I guess this was one notch in favor of this being the setting of some kind of entertainment work originating from Japan.

That could be a hit or miss on the subject of personal safety so I still had to find out more.

My short survey of the crowd made me realize that there were a considerable number of warrior looking people who were coming and going in a certain direction, so I decided to start investigating along that trajectory. It turned out to be the same direction where the sun, which rudely interrupted my doom and gloom state, was shining from, so I tried to avoid looking that way until now. I guess I can safely say that was an error, since for the low cost of shading my eyes with my hand and looking in that direction allowed me to be fairly sure on what kind of world and what kind of city I ended up in.

There was a single tower dominating the sky, which from the looks of it rivaled the height of the god damn Burj Khalifa, yet it looked to be made of stone and there were no signs of modern materials or construction techniques that allowed the construction of this physics-defying monument. The decorations on the side of it were masterpieces that would've been highly popular tourist destinations in my old world, even if they weren't carved on the side of an impossible building. If I was skeptical of the existence of magic or equivalent supernatural force in this world, then this creation would've surely dispelled that notion.

I was pretty sure the tower in question was called the Tower of Babel which was built with the help of the gods after their descent to the lower world from Heaven. Seeing that tower and adding of the other factors I've so far uncovered I was pretty sure I ended up in a world greatly resembling the setting of 'Dungeon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou ka' or 'Danmachi' for short. That would make this city Orario, the playground for a high concentration of gods and superhuman folks called adventurers.

Thankfully, it could have been much worse from the perspective of public safety. I shouldn't have to worry about getting randomly kidnapped and sold as a slave if I remember right. Of course, there is still the possibility that the world as described in the light novels and other works greatly sugarcoated the darker aspects of the story, but for some reason, I'm leaning towards that not being the case. Hopefully, that's not just wishful thinking on my part, but I can't discard that possibility either.

After the quick and efficient discovery, I deemed it prudent to return to my safe haven behind the bushes and continue to ponder my place in the world and try and recall everything I remember about the Danmachi setting and story.

So basically I ended up in a world where gods walk the lower world. The gods here that live among the mortals give their blessing to select people, which is called a Falna. A group whose members received their Falna from the same god is called a Familia. There are a few kinds of Familias with different focuses. For example, one of the most prominently featured exploration type Familia is the Loki Familia. Being an exploration type means that their primary activities consist of delving into the dungeon and exploiting it for resources such as magic stones and other drop items.

But perhaps the most important tidbit right now is the titular Dungeon. Orario was basically founded by Ouranos, one of the first gods to descend and the force behind the Guild that regulates dungeon related activities. Before the gods descended, monsters would overflow from the dungeon and spread out on the surface, bringing calamity where they went. Before the advent of Falna, adventurers fought the monsters solely on their own merit, or by contracting with powerful Spirits. The hows and whys of that were not elaborated in the story as far as I know.

That all changed with the appearance of gods and the Falna. Suddenly mortals were able to fight back so effectively that they pushed back the monsters to the dungeon where they still can't escape from to this day. The job of an adventurer has become institutionalized thanks to the Guild, so in the end, the dungeon was turned into a natural resource instead of a natural disaster. Being an adventurer is not easy work and is fraught with dangers, but if you are cautious, you can make a decent living even without going deeper into more dangerous floors where more powerful and trickier monsters exist.

Turning all that information over in my head I spent some time just looking at the mystical tower in the middle of the city, which was easier now that the sun moved behind the building and I didn't have to shade my eyes constantly. I think they just called the Tower of Babel simply Babel in the story, so I guess I should do the same. It's certainly easier that way.

Sitting in the shade of the tower my mood also took a downturn. Now that I'm not in shock, sobbing, or hyperventilating, it was starting to really hit me.

I'm alone. There is no way home. I don't even have the comfort of looking in the mirror and seeing my old self who I spent all my life as.

Instead of proceeding down the spiral of despair I tried to focus on the remaining two of the three immediate questions one would come up with in a similar situation. After the 'Where?' was answered, the next two are 'How?' and 'Why?'.

On the topic of how, instead of spouting some scientific bullshit which somehow has to include quantum physics I should recount what I remember of the circumstances of my departure and arrival.

Well, after thinking about it for a while it was a big stinkin' bust. I can't remember any hard cut off points for my memories, so no 'I went to sleep on this day and boom I woke up here', or 'I saved the lives of a busful of nuns and orphans then heroically sacrificed myself so random strangers could live and then boom I woke up here'. My memories just fizzle out sometime in 2019, I think. After that, it just snaps into focus at the point when I came to a few hours before. There was no fanfare of a hero summoning, nor any signs of an accident that somehow resulted in me ending up here.

For now, I had two theories I was debating between. The first is the physics-y bullshit excuse, that somehow I spontaneously came into being right there on the spot complete with memories of a previous life that may or may not have existed, and even if it did, it doesn't mean it actually ended, just that a randomly created copy of a personality ended up in a new body on the spot due to random quantum fluctuations. The second one is that I was chosen for a task by a sentient force that wanted to achieve something by plopping me down here. Out of the two, I tend to believe the first is the more probable one, since any self-respecting self-aware force that is capable of perpetrating the second possibility should be well aware of the fact that if it wants something important done then it shouldn't fucking pick me. Hah, in the end I still ended up blaming it on magical quantum physics.

The sun once again started assaulting my ocular sensors by popping out on the other side of Babel, so I decided it was time to set out and find lodging somewhere.

That reminds me, my new race was called pallum here, so I can finally stop using the 'hobbit-like humanoid' descriptor. If I remember right, pallums can also see in the dark, so it's possible that's why the sun irritated me that much. Other pallums may have already got used to it, but thanks to my fresh off the assembly line body, I wasn't able to so far.

The only lead I remember in any way related to lodgings was the Hostess of Fertility, but I have no idea if it was a strictly wine and dine pub or it offered rooms to rent out. I remembered that Bell ended up in a bed on the upper floor of the pub after his second minotaur encounter, but that could've been someone else's bed or just an extra room that wasn't used for anything special.

First things first, I need to search the entrance of the tower for a map with hopefully restaurants, pubs and inns marked on it.

My first expedition to the entrance of Babel ended up a failure since I failed to locate anything resembling a map. This is big fucking oversight from the service industry here in Orario. That being said, maybe most establishments were already working at capacity so there was no need to advertise. Hell if I know.

Still, the result remained, namely no map for me. The residents or visitors here probably just ask someone if they want to find something, but that's not really an option for me currently. Even before coming here it would have been the last thing I would've tried, but now, trying to have even a short conversation in a language I can scarcely speak, with unknown people who seem giant compared to me, with a voice I only used for whimpering so far was not really on top of my to-do list.

Still, it seemed inevitable that I'll have to speak with someone before the day ran out, so it would be prudent to test my voice before that. To that end, I relocated back to my greatest spiritual crutch in this world, namely, the bushes near where I landed.

Once again hiding in my sanctuary, I tried to speak a few words and short sentences, so I could get used to my new voice. In the end, it wasn't such a big deal. My voice didn't crack as it could've after a prolonged time of not using it, nor did I find any other problems with it. It was significantly higher than I was used to, but that came with being younger and female.

Now that I exhausted every excuse I could find to not continue executing my plan of finding shelter for the night I started walking towards the city walls on one of the main streets. I remembered that the Hostess of Fertility sits on one of the four out of eight main streets of Orario that match the four cardinal directions, so if I was lucky I could find it before sunset. I needed the time to dredge up my conversational japanese skills anyway, which were rusty, to say the least.

Walking on the street, I casually observed the other people near me. If I were to sum them up in one word, it would be 'ordinary'. Well, ordinary for this world. Just simple people walking about doing their business, living their lives, unaware of the possible extra-dimensional intruder amongst their midst.

It took me much too short of a time to come across my intended destination, so much so, that I haven't finished thinking of how exactly I was going to ask about renting a room there. The building itself looked very much how I remembered it from the anime. A very cozy looking two-story building with a pub on the ground floor. A good portion of the front of the building was decorated with exquisite wood carvings, which were even more prominent on the double doors leading inside the pub itself. However, the chief reason why I was able to positively identify the building was the sign beside the doors. The name 'Hostess of Fertility' was actually written on there in english. It was written in a funky font, but it could be decoded fairly easily.

That brought up a big question however. If the common language was japanese, then why was it written in english? A question for another day.

After a few more minutes of back and forth in front of the shop, I patted myself down, made sure I was presentable and as covered by my coat as possible, then I walked into the pub, ready to face my non-existent destiny. There weren't many customers inside, probably because it was near the end of the day so normal people weren't coming anymore, but it wasn't the time yet for adventurers to start arriving either.

The closest waitress to the entrance was a human girl with light gray hair. That must be Syr Flova, one of the protagonist's future love interests. However, she seemed to be a few years younger than I expected.

A sudden realization made me break out in a cold sweat.

Even if I landed in Orario, it was far from guaranteed that I arrived near the main story in time. I could've landed at any time across a thousand years or even the future if I only based my information on the existence of Babel.

After I managed to gather my wits about me, I called out to Syr who was wiping the chairs at a table with her back to me.

"Ex-excuse me," I managed to stutter out.

"Oh, hi there. Can I help you with something?" she asked me with a smile after she realized I was the one who called out to her. She bent forward to be closer to my eye level too, a textbook 'talking to a young child pose'. Syr may have been a bit manipulative in the story, but she seemed like a good girl still.

"Sorry to bother you. Would it be possible to rent a room here?" I asked with a not slight accent on my japanese.

Syr looked somewhat surprised, but it was hard to tell if it was because of my accent, the question itself, or that it came from someone so young.

"Well, it's not something we usually do here...", she started to say, but perhaps seeing my suddenly crestfallen expression she continued. "But I'll ask Mama Mia about it in a minute. Take a seat here until then."

She then patted the chair next to the one she was cleaning before. I've noted the fact that I was so short I had to hop up a bit to be able to sit on a normal chair next to a table. Syr even helped me with getting on. If I didn't know I was a pallum, I would've pegged myself as no more than a five-year-old.

"I'll be back in a bit, okay?" she asked. I nodded.

After exchanging glances with another blond waitress I didn't know the name of, she proceeded to walk behind the counter and through a door that most likely led to the kitchen. When I couldn't see her anymore I've grabbed the side of the table with both hands and put my forehead against it.

Talking with strangers was always exhausting, but I think today's happenings and emotional distress finally caught up to me. If they don't hurry up, I might end up asleep by the time Syr gets back. I think I'll shut my eyes just for a few secon-

"Oi, wake up." My head jerked up as Mama Mia's voice shocked me out of my half-sleeping state. I noticed she took a seat on the other side of the table, so she wasn't towering over me as much as she could've. I don't know if that was intentional or not, but I was thankful for it nonetheless.

"I'm Mia Grand. Call me Mama Mia. I heard there was a pipsqueak here who asked about renting a room. Did someone tell you that we rent out rooms?" she continued on with a resounding voice.

Her commanding tone of voice was probably part of her forceful personality, but I couldn't help but be shaken by it. Even without knowing that she was a Level 6 former adventurer who could devastate a good portion of the city if she was so inclined, I would still be on edge while talking to her. So I tried to answer her as best as I could while kneading my hands and averting my gaze.

"Only heard of this place. Didn't know if possible." I spoke the answer I managed to put together.

"Hoh, and what did you hear that made you come here instead of somewhere else?" she asked her next question.

"I heard, good place. Good food. Good people."

My answer was even more disjointed than the previous ones, but it didn't seem to faze her as she just smiled at my description of her pub. I noticed that Syr also raised a hand to cover a small smile. I didn't know if they were genuinely happy to hear this place described as such, or they were amused that I described a workforce nearly half made of former assassins 'good people'.

"Now, it's not usually part of the service here, but just because of that glowing review, I might be able to find some place for you." Seeing my hopeful expression she continued. "But, I will have to ask a few questions first. I'm sure you can understand."

"Of course," I replied. In my head I quickly recounted the minimalist backstory I made up for myself. Hopefully they won't try to dig too far.

"First of all, do you have any relatives here or outside Orario?" she started the interrogation.

"No family. Don't know anyone... in Orario."

I didn't even have to act sad about that. The challenge was to hold back the tears instead. Damn, this new body is really prone to triggering the waterworks.

"How did you arrive to the city? Where did you live before that?" she continued on and I was thankful for the quick change of subject.

"My goddess picked me up from village. Brought here. Spoke of things on the way. Arrived today."

It was almost true in a way. If you exchange 'goddess' with 'who knows what', 'village' with 'world' and 'spoke of things along the way' with 'I know your future from fiction'. Nearly half the words I said weren't lies. That's a good ratio in my opinion.

"And who is this goddess of yours? Why aren't you living with her?", she continued on with her more than reasonable questions.

"Can't say her name. Forbidden. Already left. Told me to 'go and beat up that dungeon'."

As I finished my sentence I heard a snort and a somewhat loud 'Nyahhahahahah' from somewhere behind me. I guess some of the others were also keeping an ear out for our conversation.

"I'm sure the dungeon is already shaking in its boots", Mama Mia said with a smirk.

"That being said, I can't say I condone just dumping a kid in the middle of Orario with hardly anything and getting told to 'go nuts'. Some gods think up truly outrageous schemes to amuse themselves." She said while shaking her head.

It spoke a lot about the gods that even a story like that doesn't raise too many eyebrows here.

I couldn't know for sure if Mama Mia believed me or not, but since I genuinely didn't mean them any harm or plan on doing anything detrimental to them, like stealing, I hoped I could gain her approval for staying here, at least for the time being. I tried to not think about the long term before I could deal with the short term.

"Well, we can at least put you up for a while," a relieved smile came to my face at that, "but the best I can do at this time is putting down some bedding in a corner of the upstairs storeroom. Fine with that, kid?" she asked to confirm.

"Perfect. Thank you very much." I bowed as deep as I could while sitting on the chair, which wasn't that deep.

"Goddess left some money. How much will I pay?" I asked, hoping that I wouldn't have to pay much for lesser accommodations. The longer my nest egg lasts, the better.

"Let's say five hundred Valis a day, food included. If you run out, maybe we can work out something for you to do around here in exchange. How about it?" she offered.

"Thank you for everything. I will do my best." I answered ambiguously. Working around the pub might not be the worst if I couldn't come up with something by the time my money ran out.

Remembering that I was half-asleep when she got here, Mama Mia told Syr to show me where I'll be staying. Truth be told, my adrenalin was still pumping from the conversation I just had, so I probably won't be able to sleep for a little while. Still, it was the perfect opportunity to start planning my more long term future here without having to be on alert for people seeing me.

My guide showed me around the upper floor, which was basically the living space for the staff, then she showed me the way to the bathroom. The strange thing about it was that the bathroom was on the first floor, but could only be accessed by going through the second floor. There was also a backyard and an outhouse for the guests' use.

Due to the anxiety gripping my stomach all day I didn't feel hungry or thirsty at all, but once I've calmed down, my need for sustenance will likely rear its ugly head. Syr and the others probably assumed I ate with my goddess and I would rather get to sleep early.

There was a small kitchen on the second floor, so I will be able to drink some water before going to sleep at least.

I would've expected Syr to be a tad more chatty, but she must've held back, since as far as she knew, I was just abandoned by my goddess and would most likely not be in a mood for chit-chat. Although the specifics were different, her assumption held more than a morsel of truth to it.

Finally, we arrived at the storeroom that will serve as my base camp in this world for who knows how long.

"Here it is. It's a bit dusty, but nothing too bad." She said as she put down the bedding she picked up during our tour. The room was fairly packed with furniture and some boxes, but there was plenty of space left for me to sleep. It helped that my height didn't even reach a meter as far as I could tell.

"You must be tired after such a stressful day. Don't be afraid to ask if you need something, okay?" she said with a comforting smile. "Sleep tight." Then she left the room and closed the door, but not before smiling and waving at me first.

I waved back as she closed the door, then my shoulders sagged with relief. I didn't even realize how wound up I was all day until I was finally able to relax. Even in my sole sanctuary behind the bushes, I was constantly keeping my voice down so no well-meaning or noisy people would notice me hiding there.

As the tension left me for the most part, I flopped down bonelessly on the bedding. I contemplated going to sleep as is, but there was one thing I absolutely had to check before calling it a night. The answer to that question will decide a large part of my future in this world.

The answer to the question of 'Do I have a Falna or equivalent?'.

If I don't, then it would support the theory that I ended up here due to a great cosmic happenstance. In that case, I would be no different than an ordinary resident of this world, perhaps apart from the 'adult's mind from a different dimension in a child's body' thing.

However, If I do have a Falna or similar, then that would basically guarantee that my arrival here was on purpose. Although I still highly doubt I was the actual target of this whole shebang. A proper protagonist would've already slaughtered their way through the upper floors of the dungeon, inspiring awe and wonder in everyone they came across. Not crying for half-a-day and then running to take advantage of the goodwill of nice people.

A Falna appears on the back of the individual, so I had to get a look at mine somehow to get my answer. Sadly, this room had a distinct lack of mirrors I could use. After racking my brain a bit I remembered that I had a shiny dagger, in which I would at least be able to see if my whole back was tattooed or not.

Thus, I spent a few minutes trying to find the best place to put it and then angle it so I could see enough of my back. When it was set up properly I took my coat off and pulled my shirt up and turned my back to it. Turning my neck to its limit allowed me to see perfectly unblemished skin.

I let go of my shirt which fell down to cover my clean back, although the front got bunched up so my stomach was still uncovered. At this point, I didn't really care. It was warm enough, so I wouldn't get sick if I left it like that for a few minutes.

Despite my earlier declaration of me saying that this probably all happened because of random chance, I think I still would've felt better to find out that it at least served some kind of purpose. That I wasn't torn out of my world and dumped into this one to play the role of a shitty background character that's only there to make the heroes of the story make look by comparison.

God dammit if I'm not juvenile as fuck, but if I had to suffer through a world-shift like that, I at least wanted to have a cool powerup as compensation.

Feeling resigned, I turned to put my dagger back into its sheath, when something odd caught my eye.

I saw something out of place on my stomach through the reflection in the dagger. I quickly untangled my bunched up shirt and took a closer, direct look at my stomach. I stared at it for a few minutes, then I murmured to myself.

"Maybe, just maybe, I will have a place amongst the main cast after all."


	2. Chapter 2

But let's not get ahead of ourselves here. Just having a fancy tattoo on my stomach doesn't one hundred percent mean that it's a Falna. It's a reasonably safe assumption, though. I mean, the shape of it is fairly strange. A ring shape with the outlines of the continents from my old Earth on the ring part itself, small writing that provides the texture for the water between the continents and nothing but empty space in the center of the ring. Ordinarily, a Falna takes the shape of the emblem of the god that provided the blessing, along with some miscellaneous writing describing the stats themselves. For example, Loki's emblem is a caricature of a jester and Hestia's emblem is a hearth. They both allude to the nature of the god in question.

In contrast, the shape of the continents from Earth would suggest that this Falna was provided by some kind of planetary god analogue from my home world. But what would be the point of sending a highly unremarkable guy from one world to another, only known to him via work of fiction, without so much as a peep and stuff him in an underage female body?

I guess I could pull some contrived explanations for some of those questions, and for my peace of mind, I think I should do that. It would be a tad more productive than blowing my top from the unfairness of it all.

Question one, what could the symbology of the Falna on me mean?

Looking at the image itself, my only guess would be Gaia. Personification of Earth, a titan in greek mythology, mother nature, etc. It's also possible that the planet I'm currently on has the same shape as my Earth, but judging from the little I know of the geography of danmachi, I doubt it.

There is too little information available, so in the meantime, I'll just assume that it was my old home's Gaia that sent me here to accomplish some task. At least this way I have a singular target for my ire in the future. 'Fuck you Gaia!' is much easier to say when pissed off than 'Fuck you mysterious entity of unknown nature and unclear goals!' anyway.

About the empty central space part of the Falna, I can only think of it as a dig at me. 'There is an entire world around you for you to find meaning in life, and yet, you are empty inside.' Well, fuck you too Gaia! Hah, it didn't take long for that sentence to come in handy.

Question two, why me?

This remains in the category of 'who the fuck knows'. It is literally impossible that I was the best person for the job, whatever that might turn out to be. Maybe it was a balancing act between components of this transference event. If I use a generic point-buy character creation system from an RPG as an analogue, then it might make some sense.

If you put more points into the ability to specify who will be chosen for the transfer, then you will have fewer points to put into extra abilities or better starting circumstances.

Judging from the fact I started out very much peacefully, with some money and a self-defense weapon on me and close to possible shelters, it would stand to reason Gaia didn't cheap out on the starting circumstances options. I suppose I should be thankful for that. It would have been a shit way to begin my new life if she went with the ever popular slave or prisoner approach.

This may also explain my starting race, age, and gender. Being young is a detriment from many standpoints, but it can also be an advantage in the long run. Perhaps a Falna works better with the combination of a developing child's body. If we take the Sword Princess, Aiz Wallenstein, as an example of it, then the idea might have some merit. She was seven years old when she received a Falna and it only took her about a year to reach level two.

Of course, a big part of her quick rise in rank should be attributed to her single-minded obsession with getting stronger, but nonetheless, the theory is still plausible.

My new race of pallum is also a minus overall, not just because they are smaller and weaker than other races, but their current place in society.

Before the gods descended a thousand years ago, most pallums believed in a goddess called Fiona. However, after the gods started arriving to the lower world, it quickly became apparent that Fiona was never real to begin with. Due to that revelation, the fairly devout pallum race started declining. Here, this shows itself as a general lack of pallum adventurers, and even most of those with a Falna only become supporters, whose job is to carry stuff for the party and dig for magic stones inside monster corpses. Not the most glamorous role one could imagine.

Being female might have been a detriment if this world was closer to the actual middle ages, but with the presence of numerous goddesses and high level female adventurers, not even mentioning a whole country of amazons, where men are second class citizens, it's fairly even regarding gender equality.

In light of that, I have two possible reasons for Gaia to give me a female body. One, the fact that my gender has changed was enough of a detriment to provide more bonus points to spend elsewhere. Or two, since Gaia is portrayed as female, perhaps creating a female body was easier, or cheaper, or more powerful than the alternative.

The timing of my arrival can also be explained this way. I don't exactly know how many years it is currently before the main story, but I would guess three to five. I'm famously shitty at trying to guess ages, but Syr looked at most fifteen years old. That would mean T minus at least three years, since she was eighteen at the start of the story. Normally, three years would mean reaching Level 2 or 3. I very much hope to buck convention on that one.

So, in conclusion, Gaia probably skimped a lot on the 'being able to choose who gets selected' option and decided to have faith in the luck of the draw. I guess she came up snake eyes in the end. It must be fairly frustrating to set all this stuff up, and at the end of the day, only getting me for her troubles.

If these theories of mine have some relation to the truth, then I can expect to be the owner of a fairly powerful blessing. All that speculation I just did was also a way of putting off checking my Falna. But why do I delay checking it if it's so important? Exactly because it's so important. This one thing could make or break my hopes of rising above mediocrity in this new world. I'm not the type of shounen protagonist that can overcome any adversity by working really hard. I need every possible advantage if I want to amount to something, and the parameters of this Falna might be the single most important of them all. I think it's somewhat understandable to feel some trepidation over it.

Fuck this shit, let's get this over quickly. I need to cut down on being wishy-washy like this, or the dungeon will indubitably fuck my shit up, as they say.

My first try of activating the Falna did not pan out. Of course, I didn't expect it to do so, but simply touching it and concentrating on opening it didn't accomplish anything. I guess I'll have to produce some blood and try that way. If it doesn't open with that, then I'm in fairly deep shit. Since I can't update my Falna, I can't get stronger beside the ordinary mortal way of gaining strength. I'll cross that bridge when, and if, it comes to that.

The usual depictions of updating a Falna in the story all had the goddesses cut their finger and smear blood on the back of the adventurer in question, but since I'm not monumentally stupid, I will draw some blood from somewhere not jam-packed full of nerve endings.

I took my nice and sharp dagger and pricked the back of my forearm a bit, so that a small amount of blood trickled out and used that to try and open my Falna. In contrast to my first attempt, it did activate this time, allowing me to let out a huge sigh in relief. Dodged a bullet on that one.

Activating the Falna meant that now there was a glowing ball of light between my hands and in front of my stomach. Without any other recourse available, I put my hands inside the ball, hoping it will allow me to read the contents somehow. This was pretty much uncharted territory, since normally only gods could interact with a blessing this way.

Plunging my hands in resulted in getting a weird feeling in the back of my head, which slowly turned into a kind of awareness of the Falna. If I had to liken it to something, then I would say it's like connecting to an external device via USB. I guess I somehow have the software drivers to do that. Probably Gaia's doing again.

Digging deeper into the Falna made my body feel kind of strange. It was like small tendrils of the Falna were burrowed deep in all over my body and sometimes they bumped into my nervous system, which produced that strange feeling. This may have been some kind of feedback reaction due to the fact that I was manipulating my own Falna.

Finally, I was able to piece together the data for the conventional stat page from the light novel and manga. It was something like this.

**Name: ? Lvl. 1**

**Strength: 0 I**

**Endurance: 0 I**

**Dexterity: 0 I**

**Agility: 0 I**

**Magic: 0 I**

**Skills: Invictus**

That reminded me of a very important fact. I didn't even fucking introduce myself to Mama Mia or Syr. Shit.

Not that I would've been able to provide a name anyway, since my old name wasn't a unisex one, and even if it was, I wouldn't want to keep it for this life. I want to separate my new self from my old as much as I can.

I always agonized a fair long before naming my characters in MMOs, but this time a rather good one came to me pretty fast. Of course, that could also be because I don't need to discard all the names that were taken.

Lo and behold my new name: Avrora.

There aren't really any special reasons for me choosing that name, it's simply one I liked.

Now, back to my Status. It's a perfectly normal beginner Status, aside from the Skill of course. And what a doozy it is. If I understand correctly, this Invictus skill will be everything I dreamt of, and possibly more. There is only a short description for it, but it hints at so much.

Somewhat stunned, I lay down on the bedding I got from Syr and contemplated this latest revelation.

'I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul. - Allows the use of the Developmental Ability and Magic named Absolute Territory.'

In essence, I got an ability that is a Skill, a Developmental Ability and Magic at the same time. No wonder Gaia had to min-max a bunch for me to get this.

So, what's so amazing about this ability for me to go all gaga over this? The first and most important part of it is ... drumroll ... telekinesis. Not that impressive? If your problem doesn't go away by a liberal application of telekinesis, then you are not using enough of it. The ability to project force freely within this 'Absolute Territory' makes this the single most versatile ability I could think of in the danmachi world.

Of course, it won't be able to do everything I can think of right off the bat, but since it's also a Developmental Ability and a Magic, its capabilities will scale with my Magic stat and its limits will loosen by raising its rank as a Developmental Ability.

In the next few minutes, a feeling suffused my body that I only experienced previously when I was finally finished with an exam period at the university, or when a schedule changed so I didn't have to interact with strangers. It was a feeling akin to contentment. Others might call it complacency, but fuck them. I want to enjoy any positive feelings as much as I can in this situation.

As I was laying there on the bedding, totally relaxed, I became aware of something that was very similar to the way I was interacting with the Falna. I half expected a windows notification sound to ring out, alerting me to the fact that a new device is now ready to use. At least that was how I felt when I recognized the presence of my new ability, Absolute Territory. I think I'll call it an ability since it's a Developmental Ability and Magic 'Spell' at the same time. It doesn't have a chant or activation phrase either, I can just directly manipulate it however I want.

The first thing I noticed about the ability itself is that I can freely expand or contract it centered on myself. Stretching it allows me to 'sense' things in a way, in a much larger volume, but in much less detail than I can when it's condensed to a smaller area. This sense currently resembles touch the most, but perhaps later it will be able to emulate other senses too.

With the Developmental Ability aspect's current rank of 'I' and a Magic stat of zero, it's a far cry from being Absolute, as it says on the cover, but I still have a range of about five meters if I stretch it to a limit. However, that only allows me a very rudimentary sense of where things are in relation to me. Still, that will certainly come in handy when I need to track where monsters are around me down in the Dungeon.

The second important part is the telekinesis aspect itself. It basically enables me to define a starting point and a vector of force. I can permanently deploy those force vectors for example to create a shield, or use them for only an instant to shoot something at high velocity. These uses are something I can determine just by feeling out my ability, but I can already think of a bunch of other ways to utilize something like this.

Nonetheless, I will have to make do with those two ways of applications until I get accustomed to using my ability more.

I was getting sleepier and sleepier by the minute, but there was no way I was going to bed before trying out my new ability. For that purpose, I chose a single coin of Valis to test it with. I fished out a five hundred Valis coin and put it in front of me while sitting cross-legged. Then, I made sure that my Territory covered it with room to spare. Covering the coin like that allowed me to construct a wireframe-like representation of it in my mind, which made it possible for me to accurately define the force vectors needed to raise it into the air.

After I triple-checked everything I allowed the prepared force vectors to manifest in the real world.

Nothing happened.

No need to panic, no need to panic. I simply defined the force vectors to exert a minimal amount of force, so this outcome was something I anticipated.

Thus, I spent the next few minutes slowly doubling the force applied to the coin. In the end, the coin started bouncing in place. At first, I didn't know what I've done wrong, but then I realized that the vectors were rooted in place in space, regardless of the position of the coin itself, so all they did was giving it a little kick upwards, then doing it again when it fell back due to gravity. So, bouncy coin.

This made me learn the importance of anchoring force vectors to the objects themselves.

The second test went better, only, the coin started levitating with a constant acceleration until it left the edge of my Territory, which caused it to plummet to the ground again.

This made me learn the importance of adjusting the force vectors, depending on the velocity and position of the object in question.

Wow, the variables that need tracking are piling up with an impressive speed. My Magic stat can't rise fast enough.

There is another observation I've made while experimenting like this. It's a hell of a lot of fun!

I've only snapped out of my experimentation when I noticed I started blankly staring in front of me more and more, and that the adventurer crowd downstairs let out a loud cheer for something. I realized after a minute, that I was getting closer to a Mind Down, similar to out of mana state. If a caster uses up their Mind entirely casting spells, then they will simply faint. It's basically working your brain to exhaustion. It was then I decided that enough is enough, I'll be able to continue experimenting with my ability after I had a good night sleep. Thus, I took off my coat, gloves, and boots, then hid under the blanket and hit the road to dreamland.


	3. Chapter 3

"Wake up! Ooooy, wakey wakey!"

A gentle wake up call stirred me from blessed unconsciousness. At first, I just stared at the girl with the grayish hair who was kneeling beside my bed and trying to wake me up, but after a few moments, I recalled where I was and what that meant for me.

And with that realization, I groaned loudly and pushed my head into my pillow.

"I'll get up in a bit," I grumbled out in response to Syr. Not hearing an immediate response, I glanced towards Syr to see her having a puzzled expression. That's when I realized I spoke in my first language.

"Ah, sorry. Getting up now." I corrected this time in japanese so she could understand me.

"What language were you speaking there? I heard a few spoken in my time here as a waitress, but that didn't sound like any of them," she asked, looking very curious.

"Don't know its name. Always spoke this way before. Learned little common from goddess." I explained to her my totally made up circumstances. In truth, I've learned japanese for a number of years, I'm just shit at actually speaking it. Never had to use it before for extended periods of time, so I'm very unaccustomed to it.

"I see. If you don't mind we could talk a bit sometimes. I would love to hear more of your language." She asked me with a radiant smile. Damn, I'm bad at dealing with busybodies like her. I'll just okay it, and try to avoid her as much as possible. She's also very observant according to the story, so that's another reason for me to stay out of her way.

"Okay. Sometimes." I responded.

"Excellent," she clapped once with her hands. "Oh, I came to wake you up because it's almost time for breakfast. Everyone already used the washroom so you can use it right away. After that, we're all having breakfast down at the bar, so come down when you're finished. Okay?"

With that, she got up from her kneeling position and left the room, but not before smiling and waving at me, once again. I tiredly returned her wave, then as she closed the door, I flopped back down on my pillow. After letting out a string of unintelligible noises and screams that were muffled by the pillow, I got up and made my way to the dreaded washroom of uncomfortableness that awaited me.

I wasn't planning on flogging myself and begging for forgiveness for daring to lay my eyes on a pre-pubescent female body, even if it was my own now, but I expect it will be kind of awkward for a few weeks at least. Meh, I'll survive.

During my stay in the washroom, I noticed that it was a fairly modern, tiled bathroom, nothing at all like I would imagine a middle-ages bathroom to be. The toilet was also a modern water-washing one in a small separate room, not in the same airspace as the bathroom, thankfully.

The other thing of note there was a fairly tall and wide mirror, which allowed me to see what I looked like now for the first time.

My most obvious feature, which very much surprised me how I didn't notice up until now, was my curly, emerald green hair and same colored eyes. Of course, the eye color I couldn't have known, but I remember how some locks of hair obstructed my view yesterday, and yet I still didn't pick up on it. My brain must've deemed it low priority information compared to all the other shit I had to deal with.

Other than my hair, I didn't find anything out of the ordinary. Yes, I was small. Yes, I was fairly scrawny. I would be surprised if I hit fifteen kilograms, even with my gear on. Even a fully grown pallum rarely grows taller than 1.2 meters, so I doubt the current me measures even a full meter. This may prove a significant detriment for me in the dungeon if I can't put sufficient weight behind my attacks, but I hope my ability will help me out with that too.

I quickly finished with the morning routine, or what will probably become the morning routine, then approached the bar where the staff and Mama Mia were already gathered. I assumed that this communal breakfast was arranged for today so I could be introduced to everyone.

I think I would honestly prefer an encounter with a couple of bloodthirsty goblins than a social situation like this where everyone's attention is focused on me. Damn it, I have to get through this, then I'll be able to sequester myself away in my room and experiment to my heart's content.

"Hello everyone. Forgot to introduce myself yesterday. My name is Avrora. Hope we get along from now on." I said, then bowed a little towards everyone. I may or may not have been fidgeting and kneading my hands the whole time I was speaking, and maybe even after that.

This may have been the first time I spoke clearly beside the two practiced sentences I opened with yesterday. This was of course due to the fact that this kind of introduction is the first thing they teach in a japanese class and make you practice it to death. It was very repetitive when I did it, but now it came in handy.

I glanced up from my bow to see most of the staff with small smiles on their faces. Ryuu Lion was of course still her stoic self. Aside from Mama Mia, who was a dwarf, there were two humans, three cat people, and an elf.

The elf, of course, was Ryuu Lion, the Gale, former Level 4 adventurer. I made a note that her hair was dyed green, much like the color of my hair, unlike her depiction in the anime, where she was blond. Interesting. I have to say, seeing her in reality like this, her beauty and fairy-like quality were not exaggerated in the slightest. Even without hormones and a sex-drive in the equation, I was still captivated by her for a few moments.

The other human, besides Syr, had a light brown hair that I might've mistaken as blond yesterday. I don't remember her name, but I think she was a bounty hunter before working here. She is also Level 4.

That leaves the three cat people, the energetic brunette, Anya, then the girl with the black hair, who I think used to be the actual assassin, and finally the cook. I know about Anya that she has a brother in the Freya Family who she is on bad terms with, and she's Level 4, but not much else. The assassin girl's most memorable peculiarity that made me remember her was that she is a shotacon.

Thankfully, I'm not in danger from that angle.

The third cat girl was much younger than the other two, and she had a hat on with holes for her ears. She also had a much different uniform on, which marked her as a cook instead of a waitress. I don't remember her name either.

"You lot heard the shrimp, her name is Avrora and she'll be staying in the second-floor storeroom for the time being." Mama Mia introduced me further to the girls.

"As for my good for nothing employees here, you've met Syr already, so I'll start there. Next to Syr is Ryuu, then Anya, Lunoire, Chloe, and finally May here." She pointed to everyone as she said their name in turn. Everyone also nodded or waved or said hello to me as their name came up, so I reciprocated their greeting the same way.

"There are others that help out from time to time, but these are the ones that you'll meet the most here. Now that everyone is introduced, let's eat," she said while gesturing to the remaining empty place between her and Syr for me to sit. I gingerly proceeded to do just that. I waited to see if there was any kind of ceremony before starting with the food, but seeing Anya chomping away with great gusto made me discard this possibility. Thus, I began consuming my first bit of food in this new life. It was a simple breakfast with sandwiches, but it tasted very good, especially after a near day of going hungry. I was glad I managed to avoid the popular skit of having my stomach rumble at an inopportune time.

"Aah, Loki Familia yesterday was a pain in the ass nyaah~", I was suddenly all ears towards Anya, who started complaining. "But that Aiz girl sure is something, Level 5 already at thirteen years old. As expected of the Sword Princess nyaah~"

That was an important piece of information I happened upon here. That means my estimate of about three years was unexpectedly accurate. Nonetheless, knowing for sure that I only had three years to catch up with the heavy hitters of the city, it made my stomach tight with fear.

When the others dispersed to start their day, I nervously shuffled towards Mama Mia and gave her the rent money of five hundred Valis we discussed. She acknowledged the transaction and I retreated back to my room as fast as possible while trying to not seem rude about it.

Situations like this make me want to jump in head-first into the dungeon, but I know I can't do that yet. There are two things that I have to do before delving in, no matter what.

Firstly, I have to take care of the matters with the Guild. I know I have to register to be able to sell magic stones to the Guild, but since I don't have an actual god to represent me, things could get hairy. I remember other adventurers that used to belong to a familia whose god resides outside, but I can't recall any that that still do after becoming active in Orario. I hope that doesn't mean that only by being in a local familia can adventurers be allowed to go into the dungeon.

Converting to another familia is of course out of the question. At this point, I can't even be sure my Falna could be taken over by another deity, or if they could, then would my advantages go away in the process? I can't take that risk. Judging from the fact that I can update my own Falna, Gaia must've intended for me to work alone too. My other reason to keep to this path is that I, honestly, can't trust any of the gods.

There are maybe two gods whose familia I wouldn't mind joining that are currently here in Orario, but there is a problem with both.

The first is the Miach Familia, whose god, Miach, is generally a nice guy. However, his familia ended up in dire straits after a member lost her arm in the dungeon and Miach took out a huge loan to replace it with an artificial one. Due to the financial ruin this brought to the familia all the other members left, only leaving the girl and Miach, barely making ends meet.

It may be possible that this hasn't happened yet, but the girl whose arm was lost was Level 2, so I can't really do anything if it happens in the near future. Maybe, if I gain power fast enough I'll able to do something about that.

Of course, the reason I wouldn't join is not because of their bad situation, but because I would probably bring even more trouble to their doorstep once my ability gets discovered. Because, I'm not deluding myself, it will be. All I can do is hide or disguise it as long as I can.

The second possibility would be the Hephaestus Familia. They would probably be able to deal with the attention I would bring after a while, but I'm not a smith so I wouldn't be welcome there.

As far as I know, Hestia only came down a few months before meeting with Bell, so she's most likely still up in Heaven, but even if she wasn't I'm not sure I would choose to join her familia. Her overly chipper and energetic style would be my natural kryptonite.

I have a hard time thinking of myself as extraordinary, but that's what the gods would most likely view me as if they discover my unusual ability. I need to keep in mind that it's my ability that's important, not me. If I can keep that hidden, then I'm just a bottom of the barrel adventurer.

The other thing I have to do is train up my ability before even stepping a single step into the dungeon. I'm not for bragging but I would probably shit myself the first time I saw a goblin on the first floor if I didn't have the equivalent of a ten inch concrete wall between me and the enemy ready to deploy. I'm just confident like that.

I'm thinking of spending about a week with mind-numbing training, and then going to the Guild to register and deal with the possible road bumps as they pop up.

I'm currently in possession of 25 000 Valis, or rather 24 500 now. That would be enough for another forty-nine days if I didn't use it for anything else. That seems a lot, but only because Mama Mia really put me up cheaply here. She might hope that I would give up on being an adventurer and settle down as a helper here, but I can't do that. Not just because of Gaia and her presumed intentions for the one with this Falna, but working in the service industry would mean interacting with people far more than being an adventurer, so dungeon delving wins hands down.

But, to be able to do that I have to find out everything I can about the Falna and how it works, so I can game the shit out of it. I will have to procure some paper and writing utensils because I will need to keep copious amounts of notes about everything that could have an effect on stat growth. Number, difficulty, species of enemies slain, general state during battle, level of tiredness, being hungry or thirsty or low on Mind, emotional state, anything could have an impact.

First things first, I needed to check if my status changed from yesterday, so I pricked another place on my forearm and opened up my Falna. After I connected to it and dug around a bit I noticed that my Magic stat went up quite a bit, despite the fact that I only played around with it for a short while yesterday.

Still, if I want to hit at least 300 in Magic by the week's end I'll have to dial it up to eleven.

**Name: Avrora Lvl. 1**

**Strength: 0 I**

**Endurance: 0→1 I**

**Dexterity: 0 I**

**Agility: 0 I**

**Magic: 0→15 I**

**Skills: Invictus**

At first, I didn't know what I did to gain that 1 stat in endurance, but then I remembered how I poked myself with my dagger to draw blood. It's a bit funny to get a stat raise from that.

To get ready for the dungeon I have to first hone my most powerful weapon, which is, of course, my Absolute Territory. I know my other stats will also need to be raised if I don't want to be one-shotted the second my Mind hits empty, but if I'm right, Absolute Territory will become the foundation on which I'll be able to build my other stats on.

Thinking back on yesterday's experiments, playing with force vectors was fun and all, and I can see much potential in min-maxing with them, but if I have to set, double check, and manifest each vector by conscious thought, then I would be half-digested by the time I finished.

I need to make it work as fast or faster than if I used a limb to do the same. It needs to be instinctual, in time. Of course, that also has its dangers. For example, if someone tries to jump me as a good-natured surprise, then reflexively ripping them apart might not be the best course of action. I don't think I will have to worry about that exactly for a while yet, but it would be best to keep ahead of things like that.

Closing up my Falna for the time being, I started looking for some items I could practice my telekinesis with. Running my gaze around the room I didn't find anything that wouldn't be in danger of breaking or making a bunch of noise if dropped unexpectedly. I had a feeling I wouldn't be juggling chairs and tables just yet.

Aha, that gave me a perfect idea, which I already thought of yesterday, so why didn't I think of it right away? Damn, I hope having a higher Mind stat will make me less stupid.

Anyway, I took a few coins from my jacket and placed them on the bedding, so even if they fall, they won't make a noise.

My first instinct was to start defining vectors, but I squashed that down for now. I needed another way to visualize it.

After a few minutes of trying, I managed to move a coin by imagining a third hand reaching for it and picking it up. This was a good result, but having a manifestation of a hand in mind at all times felt heavy on Mind use. It doesn't mean this method was useless, I noticed that touching the coin with that phantom hand provided me with feedback that was close to touching it with my real hands. This should also improve in the future.

The feedback itself reminded me of the same property of my Territory. For my next try, I inspected the coin through the virtual representation of it provided by my Territory. I could see, or feel or whatever to call it, in my mind's eye every ridge and bump on the surface of it, even the parts that I couldn't currently see in fairly high resolution. This is probably due to the fact my Territory is not even close to its max diffusion, so its detection abilities are focused on a much smaller area than yesterday.

Keeping my attention on the coin's virtual representation, I had a feeling that I should be able to use it some way. After an unknown number of minutes rolling on the floor, groaning and racking my brain, I remembered how I connected the force vector to the object itself yesterday, but now thinking about it, it wasn't so much as connecting it to the object itself, but to the model of the object produced by my Territory. Following that logic, if I can control the object's model in my mental-space, it will move the object in the real world.

Now I only needed a way to make that happen. After another x number of minutes, I came up with the brilliant idea of injecting the wireframe model of the coin in my mind-space with 'telekinesis-juice' and controlling it that way. Well shit, if it works it works, and work it did.

In essence, I'm saturating an object with my power and moving it that way. This method has the advantage of not needing eyesight, always being aware of the object, being able to freely manipulate its orientation without complicated vector shenanigans, lower Mind usage compared to the phantom hand method, and the ability to somewhat reinforce the object itself if need be. Disadvantage being low power when Territory is in a more diffuse state, and it takes a bit to prepare the object.

All in all, it was a well spent three hours coming up with it.

Finishing with that milestone for today, I sprawled out on my bed, relaxing for a bit. Closing my eyes used to only bring me darkness, but now I can 'see' everything within my territory around me. Of course, there are no colors, no light, no shadows, not even objects behind something else can escape detection within my Territory. This gives me an inkling of why this ability of mine will become worthy of the name Absolute Territory in the future, if it all goes right, of course.

Since laying on the bed doubled as perception training, I decided to just keep my eyes shut and rely on my space perception to do my telekinesis practice. I quickly identified the coins lying around and 'juiced them up' as preparation. I think I'll just call it marking instead. So, in the end, I marked ten before they started to become a bit hard to keep track, so I stopped there for now.

Next, I started moving them in various random ways, but it was still hard to split my attention between too many, so they ended up bunched together and moving the same way sometimes. Nonetheless, I was sure that this kind of coordination would've been beyond me, even via imagination, before arriving in this world.

It was during one of those random paths I noticed that even though a coin left my territory it didn't immediately leave my perception or control, only the amount of power I saturated it with started to rapidly decrease. Once the coin was back in my Territory it quickly filled up again without any problems. This was an interesting discovery once again.

If the loss of charge on the item in question doesn't exceed a certain threshold, then it might be a viable way of launching projectiles out of territory bounds while still being able to retrieve them. This bears more investigation in the future.

I tried to judge my Mind consumption, but I could only tell in vague terms how much was left and how fast it was depleting. If I didn't move the coins, then it was still decreasing, but only just, probably because of the upkeep of the marked coins. I took away the marks one-by-one to see how many I could support without going into negative Mind and it turned out to be seven.

To sate my curiosity, I exchanged the seventh coin with my dagger to see if size mattered, but the result wasn't that simple.

The dagger took up much more mind to mark properly, and if I wanted to stay at parity with regards to Mind regeneration and consumption, then I had to unmark all the other coins. I didn't know what metal the dagger was made of, but it seemed to be able to house a much larger amount of magic. I tried moving it out of my territory and as I expected, it was losing charge much slower than the coin was.

This means that higher-quality crafted items are better used as returning projectiles, and other miscellaneous items, such as stones, would fare better as one-shot discard items.

It would be nice to test exactly how much force I can apply to these projectiles if I go all out, but I really don't want to mess up anything in the room or in the immediate vicinity of the Hostess of Fertility. It wouldn't do to get kicked out on my second day here, so the high-powered tests need to wait until I'm in the dungeon and alone.

Close to an hour later my mind started to feel somewhat sluggish, which I assumed was a sign that my Mind reserves were running low, therefore I unmarked everything and walked to the window at the back of the room to get a little fresh air. I left it closed thus far, but it could do with a little air exchange. I ran into a minor problem that I wasn't remotely tall enough to open it, but the handles were well within the range of my Territory, so it became a good chance to practice my telekinesis with an everyday task. I hoped that performing such mundane tasks with the help of my ability would increase my finesse with it.

Opening the windows allowed me to rest my chin and arms on the windowsill and take a bunch of large lungful of fresh air. Thanks to the universally advanced sewer system, there was no disgusting stench the old cities used to have present here.

Through the window, I could see the paved inner courtyard of the pub. Chloe and Lunoire were currently in the process of airing out the laundry. I tried my best to not stare at them, but I couldn't help but steal a few glances, especially at Chloe, the cat-girl. I know I saw more than a few cat-girls since yesterday, but I long since mastered the skill of ignoring individuals in a crowd besides the space they take up if I need to avoid them, and I would never do something as embarrassing as ogle someone face to face, as it would have been with the waitress girls here. It was amazing how having feline ears and tail was just a perfectly ordinary thing here.

I moved my gaze to the sky and my thought process to the possible Guild problem I had. After ruminating on it for a while I decided that it would be best if I first found out if I needed to come up with plans for circumventing Guild rules at all, or there was an easy way of becoming an official adventurer open for me. The time I would be wasting on a plan I might not even need would be much better spent on reaching my stat goals before the dungeon.

Damn it, now would be the perfect time to visit the Guild. I really want to find a valid reason to stay in this room, but anything I can think of sounds like an excuse to me right now. I grumbled for a few more minutes, but then I closed the window, stashed most of my money in my bedding, then set out for the Guild. With luck, I managed to not come across anyone on my way out of the pub.

On my way towards the center of the city I remembered I should test if my Territory could be sensed by other people. If I tested it in a crowd, then the possibility of people attributing it to me would lessen considerably. Therefore I expanded my Territory to its max area and watched for any signs that the people coming and going noticed something. I kept this up until I reached near Babel, but I've found nothing out of the ordinary with regards to people's reactions.

Instead, I've found out that I was able to disregard unneeded details observed by my Territory, for example, I was able to hold back my Territory from going clothes-deep awareness of people to skin-deep. The reduced resolution of a fully expanded Territory also helped, but I think I will be able to rein it in in the future. I realize that this makes my ability an exceptional peeping tool, but I still have some standards that prevent me from using it for that purpose willy-nilly. I'm not gonna sanctimoniously say that I will never use it to that end till the day I die, but I'll be sure to keep it to its minimum. I wouldn't want to be scanned like that by others either.

Walking near Babel caused me to come across more adventurers, which made me notice the fact that some people felt different when they crossed my Territory. Since those people were obviously adventurers by their appearance, it seemed I was able to tell if people possessed a Falna or not. I have no idea of the implications of this fact for now, since it's usually not a great secret if someone has one, but it would be best to keep this on the down-low too.

During my walk on the road leading towards north, called North Main, I contemplated on who I'd like to have as my advisor if I can register successfully. Since I only know two from the story, it's not really a hard choice. One is a pink haired human girl called Misha, but her bubbly personality would most likely heavily grate on my nerves, so the only real choice is obviously Eina Tulle, a half-elf guild employee, who was the protagonist, Bell Cranel's advisor in the story.

She always cautioned Bell to not take unnecessary chances and tried to thoroughly educate all her charges about all the ins and outs of the dungeon. I really admire that determination of hers to do all she can to prepare her adventurers against everything the dungeon can throw at them.

This doggedness on her part was partly caused by an incident where a relative beginner adventurer under her care ended up dying to an Infant Dragon. I don't know exactly when that happened, but I'm pretty sure it was more than three years earlier than the start of the story, so I sadly can't do anything to prevent that anymore.

As I mulled over the subject, I finally arrived to the Guild building I was looking for. It was a fairly robust building, covered by intricate stone carvings and colorful flags. I had absolutely no idea if they represented something or they were just purely decorative, but it did a good job of distinguishing the building from others nearby.

The entrance was covered by purely decorative saloon doors, but because of my height, it was easier to duck underneath than to push for me to get inside.

I decided on the way here that in case Eina Tulle wasn't here, then I would only case the joint today and come back some other time when I could talk to her. Yet, my final struggle against my grim fate of having to talk to someone amounted to naught, since Eina was present and accounted for in the lineup of the receptionists. Thankfully I still had some time to gather my wits about me before I had to speak with her, since she was handling another adventurer's business currently.

After a few minutes of talking, the adventurer apparently finished his business and left the building. So, without further ado, I steeled myself and stepped up to the counter.


	4. Chapter 4

Then, I stepped back from the counter so Eina could see more of me than a few centimeters of hair on the top of my head. As a new addition to the club of vertically challenged, this will take some time to get used to.

"Hello, what can I help you with?" Eina asked me with a perfect salesclerk manner.

"Hello. I wish to inquire about adventurer registration," I answered trying to keep my accent to a minimum.

Eina's eyes reflected some surprise, but she quickly hid it and continued the exchange.

"Are you interested in registering or are you asking for someone else?" she asked.

"It's for me," I answered keeping my voice low so it would keep things between me and her. I doubt it would be happening here, but I would like to avoid the cliche of other adventurers overhearing my answer and picking a fight because I don't meet their standards or some rubbish. After finding myself in a world based on a story, I feel it's prudent to look out for such narrative trap falls, even if this world is real for me now.

Seeing my reluctance to speak in front of other people, Eina made an offer.

"Would you like to continue our talk in a private room?" she asked, running her gaze around the interior of the Guild. She was probably trying to determine if I was trying to keep things from some specific someones, or just everyone in general.

"Yes, thank you," I said a bit relieved.

She led me to a corridor to the side, then opened the door to a normal looking room with two couches and a table between, and gestured for me to get inside. I had no reason to refuse, so I walked in and stood between the door and the table. Eina followed me in, shut the door and walked to one of the couches and invited me to sit on the other.

Thankfully the couch was low enough for me to not need to climb up to be able to sit comfortably. Now, that we were both sitting down, she continued with our business.

"Let me introduce myself first. My name is Eina Tulle, a half-elf as you've probably gathered," she said, focusing attention on her ears by tucking a few loose strands of hair behind one of them. "I understand that you want to register as an adventurer."

I nodded in affirmative to her inquiry.

"I see. Younger prospective applicants are usually accompanied by their Familia on such an occasion. Can I ask why there isn't anyone present from your Familia?" she asked, trying to hide her disapproval of the fact.

"Don't have a Familia." At my words, her eyes immediately went wide and took a large breath, probably to scold me for trying to register without a Falna, but I quickly continued. "But received blessing from goddess. She told me to be an adventurer. I can be an adventurer."

I was looking at her with every bit of determination I could scrounge up. She held her breath for a few seconds, looking like she would break out into a rant, but seeing my eyes she realized I would not be deterred by a simple scolding, so she let out the breath she was holding as a grand sigh.

"Fine, but if you can't convince me that it wouldn't be simply suicide for you to go into the dungeon, then I will absolutely not allow you to register. Understood?" she said with a fair bit of vehemence.

Losing that adventurer must still be a fairly raw wound for her at this point.

"Understood," I acknowledged the ultimatum.

"Can you tell me more about your situation? You said you don't have a Familia, but you also said you do have a Falna. Those should be mutually exclusive, normally," she pried further.

"Goddess didn't tell me about anyone else in Familia. She picked me up from my village. Told me some things on the way, then she left me here to be an adventurer."

As I continued explaining my backstory, her eyes were getting narrower and narrower. I guess she wasn't liking my story too much.

"She told me being a Familia is like a family. I don't have a family, so I don't have a Familia."

I have no intention of recognizing Gaia as any kind of family of mine, not after how she brought me here. I'm a simple tool for her to chuck at the problem, hoping I would serve as a wrench in the machine or some such. There is no way in fuck I would treat her as any kind of respectable parent figure after that.

Seeing how it was a sore subject for me, Eina continued with a more understanding tone.

"Can you tell me the name of your Goddess? I haven't heard of other cases like this one, but perhaps I could find if someone was in the same situation before," she asked.

"She told me the name Gaia, but I don't know if that's her real name." I turned my gaze to the floor and kept silent after that. I thought I already came to terms with my new situation, but telling someone about it brought out my emotions of sadness, loss, and anger. Although the ratio was starting to favor anger more and more.

"Gaia, hm," Eina pondered my words. "I don't recall any mention of a Goddess named Gaia on the Lower World before. Perhaps she only descended recently? Or maybe it's a false name for another Goddess? But deities don't usually use fake names."

"Maybe I'm an experiment. If goes well, she can claim responsibility, if not, no one knows of her mistake," I brought up my take on the subject, still not looking up. "A tool to be used and discarded if it proves inadequate," I scoffed a little, "I guess that's fitting for someone like me," I murmured in a low voice.

I would like to say I'm playing up my plight to score some pity points, but the room's setup somehow gives a feeling that I'm talking to a therapist so I might've let out more of my real feelings than I would've wanted. Dammit, it will be so awkward to interact with Eina after this.

I clamped down on my feelings to stop the same thing from happening again and brought my gaze up to continue the talk with Eina in a more productive direction. However, when I looked up I saw her having a dark expression. I then realized I just dumped my emotional baggage on this poor girl, who is definitely not a qualified therapist, so I hurriedly tried to move beyond the topic.

"Please don't mind my words. Probably just my imagination," I gesticulated wildly with my hands as if trying to shoo away my previous words and the dark atmosphere that settled between us.

Seeing me panicking a bit, she let out a small chuckle.

"Very well, let's move forward." To that, I let out a relieved sigh, but her next words tempered that relief. "We will come back to that later."

I reluctantly nodded with a grimace. Eina probably saw it but decided to not pursue it for now.

"As someone that received a Falna from a deity residing outside Orario, the Guild can only allow you into the Dungeon until you reach Level 3. That is unless another deity living in Orario decides to support you with regards to the Guild. However, people that use that option are very rare, it's far more likely the adventurer in question would just convert to that deity's Familia. Sadly that is not possible for a year after receiving a Falna," she paused for a bit. "How long was it since you received your blessing?" she asked.

"I received it yesterday, before she left," I ended up saying. I contemplated fudging the date a bit, but I didn't see any reason for it. If I end up as big as a clusterfuck I suspect I might, then I at least want to be as honest to the poor girl as I can.

"So it's not something we can count on anytime soon," she stated. "Did she indicate when will she be coming back?" she asked. I shook my head in the negative. After a few seconds of silence, she continued. "Then the best I can think of is signing up as a supporter and find some work with a bigger Familia, preferably on the surface for a while, then you could accompany another party to the Upper Floors after some time."

I listened to Eina describe a perfectly reasonable course of action, but only if I didn't have a way to update my own Falna and a fairly powerful ability in the mix. I realized I would have to tell Eina about those or there would be no way in hell she would allow me in the dungeon. Trusting her with that would mean a very big leap of faith, but being as thorough as she is with her work, I don't think there is a way of hiding it from her on the long run. In that case, it would be best to come clean right away to build some trust.

"Eina-san," I interrupted her detailing her plan for me, "I need to tell you big secrets. Very big secrets. Can I trust you to tell absolutely no-one? No co-workers, no superiors, no gods, no mortals."

Eina's eyes opened wide at this question of mine, and with good reason, I would say.

"Yes, you can," she answered with visible determination, "if it can be considered an internal Familia matter that poses no obvious and direct danger to Orario, then I will keep it between us for certain."

I nodded with some relief.

"I need to tell you about two things that are... strange about me. Out of ordinary." If I was an asshole, then I would just levitate the table or something and freak her the fuck out while wearing a smugface, but since I'm not, I'll try to ease her into it first. "I don't know if it's because of me, or goddess did something, but my Falna is different from others, she told me."

With that, I pulled up my shirt so the front of my stomach, and with that my Falna, was on full display. I heard Eina gasp and saw her bring one of her hands to cover her mouth. I guess this was really something unexpected for her. I hope she can get into the rhythm because the surprises are far from over.

"Can I examine it from up close?" she asked after she sufficiently expressed her disbelief. Perhaps she wanted to ascertain its authenticity, which is certainly a prudent course of action. It could also be a simple tattoo after all.

She leaned in closer and started to focus on the writing that constituted the oceans on the ring-shaped map. I didn't know if she knew any hieroglyphs, but if she did, it would save me from having to prove its authenticity. Huh, her eyes are green like mine.

After a while I heard another fairly loud gasp, so I think she could read some of it in the end.

"Fifteen in magic? A Skill?" she shrieked out, but not that loudly. I guess my plan of easing her into those met a snag. "Didn't you say you got your Falna yesterday?" she asked me sharply.

I just nodded while not averting my gaze from her eyes, trying to show my sincerity. After a few moments of searching for deceit, she seemed to give up and plopped back down on her couch.

"Okay, let me hear the rest then," she groaned out with her hand massaging her temple and eyes under her glasses. I pulled the hem of my shirt back down and waited for a few seconds before continuing.

"It seems I have an innate Skill that can be counted as magic. I first noticed yesterday evening. Spent some time trying it out. It is... somewhat strange too, I think," I tried to soften the incoming impact. She looked at me with an expression saying she was aware of what I was doing and not happy the information I was about to entrust to her warranted that method of handling. "It needs no chant, no activation phrase, it's always on and has many possible applications," I finished with a bit of a strained smile. I contemplated telling her about its triple nature of Skill, Magic, and Developmental Ability, but I didn't want to overwhelm her even more.

I fished out a coin to move on to the demonstration phase.

"This is one of its uses," I said as I put down the coin on the table between us. At first, she didn't know what I meant by that and looked at the coin and then at me with a confused expression, but when I raised the coin from the table so it intersected our line of sight she jumped a fair bit and bit back an expletive. My smile from witnessing that was the most genuine one yet that appeared on my new face in its short existence.

Eina sent me a sideways look and looked like she wanted to scold me, but seeing my smile she just let out a huff and fixed her posture while sitting on the couch.

"Can you move other objects too?" she started assessing how my ability could prove useful to me.

"Yes," I also put down my dagger on the table, then marked its leather sheath for as long as it took for me to remove the dagger itself from it, then I sent it orbiting me, just like I've done to the coin, but I was careful to keep its edge facing away from Eina and me. Seeing my latest display she seemed to quickly reevaluate the potential of my ability.

"I can move about ten at the same time. Weapons drain more Mind. I can keep doing this for quite long. Don't know how strong yet. Only began trying out." I tried to preempt her questions as best as I could.

"How far are you able to manipulate them?" She seemed to get over her shock and was apparently back to being determined. To answer her I expanded my Territory to its max and put the coin and dagger on opposite ends. They were very near the back wall and the door of the room.

"Outside this range, I can't pick up anything, and when marked items leave, I can't get them back after a while." To demonstrate I moved the coin outside of my reach and it started to slow down and ended up on the floor in short order. To get it back I moved two steps closer so I could reach it again and I picked it up with telekinesis. "Takes longer for weapons," I finished the demonstration.

"You said this was one of its uses. Can you tell me about the other... or others?"

"Yes. I can also sense within this Territory," I gestured around myself to refer to the range I previously showed Eina.

"What do you mean by sense?" she asked.

"Hmm, show numbers with fingers," I showed what I expected her to do with my own fingers, then I stood up and showed my back to her. "I will tell how many."

"Two...three...five...eight. Six, behind the back. Three on the front again."

To end it I brought about my coin and accurately booped her three extended fingers with it one by one. I turned back to face her, which allowed her to see that my eyes were probably closed the whole time. Opening my eyes let me see her still looking at her three extended fingers, still looking flabbergasted.

"So, Eina-san, I think I can make it as an adventurer," I tried to reassure her.

That seemed to wake her from her stupor.

"Don't get carried away just from having a never before heard of legendary Skill! All it takes is one bad move and you still might not leave the Dungeon," she yelled at me. I never really liked when people shouted at me, so I might have involuntarily flinched a little.

After her outburst she realized just how loud she got by the end, so she quickly apologized.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have raised my voice like that. But the sentiment still holds true. You need to be very careful and not let that Skill get to your head," she said with a much softer gaze.

"I understand. I will make sure to not let it," I assured her with my gaze back on the floor.

Next, I heard her let out another sigh, probably thinking of the possible consequences of me having this ability.

"Let's take a small break before we continue," she rose from her couch. "Would you like some tea?" she asked.

"Yes. Thank you," I said after a short pause.

"I'll be back shortly," she said, then left the room to procure the aforementioned tea.

Maybe I shouldn't have told her. It's a big burden to place on a girl not much older than fifteen. Should I have chosen someone else as an advisor? I haven't even registered yet, so it's far from set in stone. But, I wouldn't be able to trust any others with my secrets.

It all comes down to this, doesn't it? I will end up making Eina's life harder because otherwise it would be inconvenient for me.

I shouldn't have come here today. I should've trained more with my ability so I could have faked being a more experienced adventurer. If I told her that I was trained by my Familia, she wouldn't have questioned it. Dammit, I always intend to plan my every action and then end up doing something rash and stupid.

Well, it's in the past now. I already told her about my ability and that my goddess won't be back soon, so I don't know if I can avoid telling her the Falna updating thing.

After further thinking about it I came to the conclusion that I don't have to share any more at this point. Having this ability should be enough for me to register and be allowed into the dungeon. The fact I can update my Falna is a few grades higher secret than my Skill. My Skill can still be more or less explained by the common sense of this world, as could the placement of my Falna. It's not impossible that placing it on the person's back is just the standard that everyone uses, but it's conceivable that it's not the only way to do it.

However, updating a Falna without a god should be impossible without question. That makes it a dangerous secret.

Now I'm glad Eina called for a break because I intended to tell her before this.

Before long, Eina came back, carrying a tray with some tea. She put the tray down on the table and took a seat. I nodded to express my thanks for the tea. I couldn't read any indication of what she might be thinking since I'm not what people might call observant.

We sat there in silence for a while, quietly sipping tea. It was a nice tea.

After a few minutes, Eina was the one to break the silence.

"Once again, I'm sorry about snapping at you like that. The adventurers I'm used to handling all have a tendency to be overconfident in general. I'm sorry about assuming the same about you," she tried to explain herself.

"I understand," I said, raising my gaze for a second before I continued with my observation of the floor.

Letting out yet another sigh, she soldiered on.

"If you are ready, then we should move on to the registration itself, since we established you do have the qualifications to delve into the Dungeon," she said as she brought out a binder I haven't noticed up until now. She probably fetched it at the same time she made the tea.

"I will now ask a few basic questions and write down the answers. The way many adventurers write can't be called legible, so it became the norm for Guild members to do the actual writing," she explained.

It's probably better this way. I probably don't even know how to write the way the locals do. I'll have to investigate it further in the future.

"First question. Name?" she asked.

"Sorry for not introducing myself earlier. My name is Avrora," I gave my answer.

"Not a problem at all," she assured me. "Next question. Place of birth?"

"A village far away. Name is Europa," I told her my prepared answer. It sounded like how a village would be named here, so I decided to use it.

"I see. Next question. Name of Familia. I guess this should be Gaia for now?" she half said, half asked. I nodded my assent.

After some scribbling, she asked her next questions.

"Race? Age?"

"Pallum, ten," I answered reflexively. Then I furrowed my brows since I had no idea why I was sure of that answer to the question of my age. I just got this body yesterday. It should be impossible to know exactly how old was it created to be, and yet, I can tell that I'm about ten years and ten months old. This is freaky, but I don't have the time to ponder it just now.

"Then there is specialization. As a Level 1, there are usually two main possibilities to choose from, a Supporter and a more general Adventurer. Mage and Smith are examples of specializations that come up after Level 2, however, you can choose them at Level 1 to express your plan to take them as you level up. For you, it would be possible to pick Mage, but...," she trailed off for a bit.

"General Adventurer will be good," I confirmed the conclusion she most likely came to. It would be a sub-optimal choice to designate myself a Mage without conventionally recognizable Spells, not to mention that I have no intention of playing a traditional artillery mage role in any kind of party. Thus, it's better to be as generic as possible to avoid party requests from people looking for unattached mages. I have zero plans on being in a party with unknown people.

Eina nodded to express her agreement as well. After some more scribbling, she finally put down the binder on the table and looked at me.

"With this, the registration part is done. Next, I would like to go through what you know about being an adventurer and your knowledge on the Dungeon," she said.

What followed was a comprehensive guide on 'How To Adventurer For Dummies', basically. I've put a few words forward when prompted, but mostly I just listened to Eina's lecture on the basics. There have been bits that have confirmed things for me, like how it's only legal to sell magic stones to the Guild, and there were bits that disproved my assumption, for example, there was a magic stone exchange inside Babel, near the exit of the dungeon, not just in this building.

She explained that I would only be allowed to prowl the first two floors of the dungeon, and informed me of what I will find there. In short, goblins or kobolds. Basically fast-moving ankle-biters for most, but fast-moving neck-biters for me because of my height. A normal teenager would have no problem with any of them one-on-one, but I was physically far from a normal teenager, so if I didn't have my ability as a fail-safe, I might not be willing to go down there alone.

When I conveyed my plan of going down into the dungeon only after a few more days of training, Eina was absolutely ecstatic. I thought she would burst into tears proclaiming how finally she met an adventurer with a shred of sense. I think it's most likely an exaggeration, but who knows what kind of people she was saddled with lately.

At the end I promised to be back for more lessons in the coming days so I could be as prepared as possible to tackle the first two floors, ideally without dying or suffering a permanently debilitating injury.

"Ah, one more thing I wanted to ask you," she said. "Can you tell me where you are staying at?"

"Hostess of Fertility," I answered her.

"Really? I didn't know they lent out rooms to people," she said with obvious surprise, but not disbelief. Judging by the Hostess' reputation, claiming to be a resident there wouldn't end well if it wasn't true, so she must've judged it to be the truth.

"They don't. Exception," I explained while pointing to myself.

"That you are," she muttered under her breath, but I was just able to pick it up. "Then I will see you soon," she bid me farewell.

"Thank you," I bowed a little, then hurried out of the building.

The whole thing went better but also worse than expected. I was able to register without any restrictions for the first three levels, even without a god present, so that's a plus. The minus part is that I'm most likely not Eina's favorite right now. I wouldn't be too happy about it either, getting burdened with an aberrant case like mine. I'll just need to make sure to keep her from being exposed to my weirdness as much as possible.

I turned my head to the opposite direction I arrived to the Guild from, debating on trying the famous Jagamarukun stand food from the story, if it even existed yet, but decided against it for now. The main streets of Orario should be perfectly safe, but I still didn't want to spend more time outside than necessary.

Therefore, I made my way back to the Hostess of Fertility.

I managed to reach my room without getting stopped by anyone, so I thought maybe they haven't noticed my lack of presence. This turned out to be an erroneous assumption, since I've found a small basket with sandwiches inside the room. They probably left it here when they saw I wasn't here. I guess lunch was also included in the deal. I will make sure to haggle my rent money up once I can earn a stable income.

While I was eating, I organized my thoughts regarding my short term objectives. I was able to find shelter without much trouble and was also able to register with next to no fuss. This allowed me some peace of mind for the time being.

As for delving into the dungeon, Bell had no problems roaming the first four floors of the dungeon with only his agility stat above a hundred and no Skills of any kind, so I think I will be able to manage it. Thinking of it like that brings back the memory of Eina shouting at me to not get complacent and I involuntarily flinch a bit. I need to think of a way to boost my stats quickly so she has no room to object.

To do that I need to examine what those stats mean in reality. Some of it is fairly straightforward, like Strength, which is simple physical striking power, or Endurance, which is the ability to endure physical attacks, but Dexterity and Agility are not that simple, I think. The RPGs I knew didn't treat those two as separate stats, only used one or the other.

Judging by their name, Agility should be basically a speed stat and Dexterity should be more of an acrobatics and skillful movement stat. Ordinarily, Strength should also have an effect on how fast someone can move, but it's not entirely clear in this case. Without a Falna, strength comes from muscles, which propel the body forward when running, but it doesn't mean more muscles equals more speed after a while. Weightlifters can't outrun dedicated runners just because they have more muscles. With Falna in the picture, you can get stronger without needing to increase muscle weight in similar proportions. That should allow people to reach much higher speeds by itself, so why have a separate stat for speed when increasing Strength should be able to explain the increase in speed?

I have a feeling the answer to that question can be reached by answering another question. What else is needed if you want to reach bullshit speed levels that allow a person to flit around the battlefield too fast for lower levels to even see? First, the less important, which that can be chalked down to bullshit magic Falna stuff is the ability to withstand the g forces acting on the body due to the sudden acceleration that comes with moving that fast. Second, the ability to perceive and react to events that are happening at that more than significant speed.

In other words, increased speed of thought.

The whole being able to go faster than the normal eyes can see would be a whole lot less impressive if all you could do is run into the closest wall at max velocity, due to not being able to react in time to change course.

Therefore, I postulate that the Agility stat, at least in part, is a mental stat.

If I'm right, then having higher Agility would mean being able to think faster. Which I very much dearly desire. It would help a lot during stressful conversations too.

Long having finished my lunch, I put the empty basket back next to the door, with telekinesis of course, and geared up to train my stats as much as I could.


	5. Chapter 5

Now that I have a theory of what my stats represent, I need to think up methods best suited to raising them.

Starting from the top once again, I should be able to raise Strength by simple weight lifting exercises. The problem with that is the need for specialized equipment in my opinion. After a while, an adventurer's Strength stat should far outstrip the standards where ordinary weight lifting equipment proves sufficient. I don't think bodyweight exercises could even cover the first few hundred stat points.

Thankfully, I may have a solution for this predicament, and also a way to kill two goblins with one stone. I just need to simulate a significant amount of weight acting upon my body. What method could I have to achieve this? Oh wait, my ability to project force anywhere within my vicinity. What a shocker. Of course I will feel like a fool if it turns out my ability has the arbitrary restriction of not being able to act on my own body, or perhaps even any living creature. That would suck a lot.

A quick test assured me that this wasn't the case. Simulating a simple light push allowed me to conclude that I could affect my body with at least one of my methods. Very good.

Before I start on trying out the specifics of this training method, let's go over the rest of the stats too.

Next is Endurance, which is basically physical defense. I remember that this stat was lagging behind the rest for Bell, since his fighting style was based on agile movement and not allowing himself to get hit. Therefore I can safely say that the best way to raise this stat is to get hit. Well shit, not the best news right there, but this stat is not immediately crucial, so I'll have time to think up some better methods when I have more information.

Dexterity should be about skillful movements, like juggling for example or some kind of parkour. I would count in even playing some kind of instrument, like piano, or sports, like basketball. I very much hope this new body will provide a significant upgrade for me in those terms, because no-one would've cast an aspersion on the old me by calling me dexterous.

As previously mentioned, Agility is probably at least partially a mental stat, so anything that requires quick thinking and fast reflexes should be fine. The juggling example for the Dexterity stat keeps popping up in my head again. I'll have to try it at least.

Last is Magic, which doesn't require a genius to think of something, since anything I accomplish with telekinesis counts as training Magic, not to mention the sensing properties of my Territory. Magic will be used to train Strength at the very least, and if I incorporate it into my Dexterity and Agility training, then with the possible exception of Endurance, all my stats will benefit a whole hell of a lot from it. Due to the very versatile nature of my ability, I can use it in many ways that benefit the growth of my stats, if not to the level of bullshit protagonist 'it-took-me-four-and-a-half-month-to-reach-Level-4' Bell, but at least a good deal faster than an ordinary adventurer.

Since I have about three years until the story kicks into high gear, I can say I have about six months per level if I want to be really optimistic. That would land me at Level 7, which I would rate at nigh impossible for me, but hope dies last.

Leveling up will be another mystery to figure out. The story itself romanticizes it by saying you need to have an adventure to be able to step up a Level, but I'm not really buying into that. It sounds like a way to motivate hot-headed idiots for me, which the protagonist certainly qualifies as in my opinion.

My ultimate goal regarding stats is reaching S rank, as in 900 or more, in every single stat at the very least before every level up. I saw Levels explained as a shell with each Level corresponding to a layer that makes it up. That would mean the higher your stats reach before actually ascending a Level the thicker that layer will be and sturdier your foundations will be for the levels above. A few hundred extra stats per Level would add up to quite a lot by Level 6 or 7. It may even prove to be a way to punch higher than my weight class would suggest.

Now that I'm finished hatching my training plans, there is one theory I must test before anything else.

Thus, I sat down cross-legged, closed my eyes, took a large breath and immersed myself in the sensations my Territory provided. After a few moments of relaxing, I tried to 'mark' my own body like I did with other objects so far. It took a few seconds and a fuckton of Mind, but I was able to achieve the same outcome with my body as I did with those objects.

Then came the moment of truth. I slowly directed my body to rise from the floor. The first thing I noticed was that my body started getting lighter and lighter until I felt like I was floating. Opening my eyes allowed me to verify that it was because I was really floating a few inches off the ground.

For the next few minutes, I don't think my smile could physically get bigger. I was God Damn Flying! Or just floating around like a badly filled balloon at a retirement party, but if I could already do this with just a few stats in Magic, then what will I be able to do at Level 5+? It gives me damn shivers just thinking about it.

After a few minutes of floating here and there, I carefully landed on my feet because that still took a lot of Mind to maintain. One thing for sure, I won't have a problem training Magic until I could maintain this for hours at least.

The only one I know that could fly in danmachi was Asfi Al Andromeda, the captain of Hermes Familia, but only with the help of a magic item.

After giggling like a little girl, which I was now, into my pillow for more minutes than I would like to admit to, I moved on to the less glamorous part of the training, meaning juggling coins for now. Marking them and stopping them from hitting the floor when I missed added a bit more complexity and fun into the mix, but I also had to hold back from simply controlling the marked coins without even touching them with my hands. All in all, I think it was a productive way of spending time. I hope the next rise in stats will corroborate that.

It took me some time to get tired of the juggling thing, but I finally decided to move onto focusing on Strength, since juggling allowed me to recover most of my Mind reserves and Strength training will probably eat it up a lot.

At first, I thought of doing the good old saiyan training method of increasing gravity by pushing my whole body instead of lightening it by the same marking method, but then I remembered that my internal organs may not appreciate an increased downward force as they currently are, so I endeavored to think of something less potentially adverse to my health.

That is how I thought of shrinking my Territory almost down to my skin and turning it into a counter-force for every movement I make. It's kind of like wading through a deep swamp, only without the drowning part. Although it makes it harder to breathe too, since the expansion of my lungs is also opposed. Doing basic exercises with this counter-force active should make them much more effective. Also, god damn hard too, but I have no illusion of getting to Level 5+ without sufficient invested effort. Every drop of sweat I produce here will increase my chances of not getting dead in short order in the dungeon, and produce it I did, in copious quantities. I had to take a break to open the window and to set out to a short expedition to get some water from the upstairs kitchenette.

I ninja-d sufficiently enough to avoid bumping into anyone on the way too, so that was a plus.

After I settled on a workout routine the time simply flew by with grueling slowness since I was busting my tiny ass working out and not daydreaming. Nonetheless, the sun slowly went down, which came with Syr visiting me to convey Mama Mia's message of 'get your ass down for dinner', which I acknowledged with a counter offer of presenting myself after I took a shower. Syr had no objection to that. She also informed me that in the future a basket will be prepared for me for breakfast and lunch, which I will be able to find in the upstairs kitchenette, or down at the pub's kitchen. I thanked her for today's lunch basket and she took it with her as she returned downstairs.

Before taking a shower I came to the grim realization that I only have one set of clothes, so I have to get back into them after the shower, but also that I will have to buy a few similar sets very soon. Now that's something I'm not looking forward to. It will also eat into my available capital.

Thankfully the scent of soap overrode the slight sweaty smell my shirt and shorts had, but I'll have to wash these after dinner if I want to be able to leave my room tomorrow.

I dutifully presented myself after taking the shower and received a platter of food as a reward, so I procured the most out-of-the-way possible seat and ate all my food. It was very filling and also essential for me to be able to continue with my workout plan. I don't know how a Falna changes the equation between energy spent versus energy needed, but I'll eat as much as I can, just to be sure. Although I very much doubt that the need for food increases at the same rate as the energy expended by the adventurer grows. Take for example Riveria Ljos Alf, Level 6 adventurer Mage of Loki Familia. She can nuke an entire fucking floor with one of her spells, so I very much doubt the energy needed for that comes from the food she eats.

Consuming all that food was followed by a major food coma, so all I could do was thank Mama Mia for dinner and get to my room as expediently as possible. My plan of washing clothes after dinner and maybe a bit more ability training went bust real fast. I slept like a log until morning.

Morning came quickly, but I managed to wake up fairly early even without having a Syr alarm going off. Meaning that Syr didn't come to wake me up today. That may be because yesterday's breakfast was a one-off event organized for introductions, or Syr is not working today and nobody else came to wake me up. Either is possible.

After yesterday's killer workout, I half expected to barely able to move, but I guess a Falna isn't just a pretty tattoo, because I feel just fine. A little bit of ache in some muscles, but not the bad kind. I kind of like it since it's a sign of the work I did.

There are three things on the agenda for today, besides the obvious training stuff. First, update Falna to see if training is effective. Second, get to the Guild and procure starter equipment. I have the dagger, but I don't really think it will be sufficient. Third, obtain clothes on the way back. I think I remember at least one clothes shop on North Main, where the Guild building stands.

Speaking of clothes, I forgot I still had to wash these on me. Dammit. Maybe I could just air them out or something. No, no, I don't want to worsen Eina's impression of me by turning up smelling of sweat on the second day. I'll just have to bite the bullet. It should be late enough already so I wouldn't bump into any of the staff here. However, before going to the washroom I acquired the breakfast basket that had my name on it, metaphorically, and I stashed it in my room.

With the goal of avoiding everyone in mind, I stealthed my way to the washroom and performed my morning routine and washed all my affected clothes as quickly as possible. I foresaw the need for my long coat, so I was able to stay covered on my way back to my room, but I still felt like an exhibitionist. Ghargh, I would've died from embarrassment if I came across someone on the way back. It's all good now, all good.

I put up my clothes to dry on the back of some spare chairs stored in there, then I pulled my blanket over me just because and sat with my back against the wall. I can't move while my clothes dry, so I'll just focus on my Territory while munching breakfast. Just because I'm able to sense with my Territory, it doesn't mean I'm automatically aware of everything within its bounds, instead I need to be able to sort out all the sensations it provides and focus on the important parts. Maybe kind of like learning Braille.

Therefore I spent the next long while flexing my Territory, expanding and contracting, and making sense of the sensations I gain from it.

When I finally checked if my clothes got dry enough, the verdict was 'meh, good enough'. I was finally able to don all my gear once again.

This ordeal only strengthened my conviction of purchasing some more clothes, no matter how uninviting I find the action to be.

I will set aside two thousand valis max for more clothes and I will bring ten thousand more for possible starter equipment from the Guild. That should cover it for sure. The rest I will leave here again.

Ah, yes, Falna update. Almost forgot while planning my excursion.

I moved on to activating my Falna employing the usual method and looked for any changes. And indeed I've found a fair bit of it.

**Name ****Avrora ****Lvl. 1**

**Strength 0→20 ****I**

**Endurance ****1→5 ****I**

**Dexterity ****0→15 ****I**

**Agility ****0→27 ****I**

**Magic ****15→61 ****I**

**Skills ****Invictus**

All in all, a stat gain of more than one hundred across all stats. A respectable gain. Of course, the first bunch of stats come quickly, the later parts will be the troublesome ones.

Closing down my Falna I tried to flex my Territory again and it surprised me by having almost half a meter more reach than before. Does that mean that by the time I reach 1000 in Mind, my Territory will have a radius of fifteen meters? That's a promising prognosis.

Not wanting to waste more time, I checked that everything was in order and evacuated the Hostess of Fertility with haste. I didn't quite manage a full stealth run this time, since I was spotted by Ryuu, but I simply nodded at her and continued on towards my goal. She even slightly nodded back. I call this a successful step forward in our relationship of not having a relationship at all. Although she is one of the few people I wouldn't mind getting to know, I simply wouldn't be able to speak with her, partly because of my admiration for her, and partly because we wouldn't have any topics in common.

On my way to the Guild, I scouted out a few possible clothing shops and decided on which one I would try first. I tried to choose the most utilitarian looking shop, as opposed to the girly looking ones, and most certainly not those that mainly cater to amazons. A twice as tall amazon as me wears half as much clothes on average, I would say. Not something I wish to imitate.

Keeping in mind the location of my chosen shop I proceeded towards the Guild. That's where I hit a snag in my plan. Eina wasn't present. I waited for a few minutes more, but it didn't look like she was just away for a bit. Damn, I guess I'll have to take care of my other business first. Maybe she starts working after noon.

On my way back to the store, I practiced my detection ability by spacing out, closing my eyes would be a tad suspicious, and tracking people around me just by using my Territory. The about five meters this allowed me to detect in front of me proved just enough to seamlessly avoid everyone.

The shop I chose was reminiscent of larger clothing stores from my old world, so I was able to sneak my way through the racks of clothes without alerting any salespeople. With that I managed to choose a few sets of clothes, similar to the one I currently have. I tried them on in a fitting room and exchanged them as needed. I made sure to leave some room for growth, since I was close to hitting my growth spurt if pallum puberty works the same way as a human's anyway.

I also picked up a sturdy looking satchel, not just so I have something to bring my clothes back to my residence, but hopefully to store loot in the dungeon. Judging by the design and price, it was made for that purpose too.

In the end, I ended up with a fairly big bundle of clothes. Based on the surprised reaction of the cashier, she didn't even notice my plundering of the store until I presented my loot for her to ring up. My ninja soul cries in triumph.

After paying a whopping 1,865 valis, which felt like pulling teeth a bit, I packed up my purchases, thanked the cashier girl, and left the store. The sun seemed to be reaching its zenith, so I decided to try my luck again at the Guild. This time I was rewarded by the presence of Eina, who looked like she just arrived not much earlier. A bit of walking back and forth allowed me to sufficiently spiritually prepare myself for what came next, then I went to say hello to Eina.

"Hello Avrora," she greeted me when I got close enough. This was the first time someone directly called me by my new name and it felt very weird, but I tried to not let it show on my face.

"Hello, Eina-san," I greeted her back. I use -san with everyone's name, because I'm the younger seeming person in every case and I try to be as non-confrontational as possible by using somewhat polite speech. Although my keigo was always bad, so I keep my sentences short to avoid making mistakes.

"You came a bit earlier today, I was expecting you a little bit later for your lesson," she said, "or is there something else I can help you with before we start?"

"Wanted to buy beginner equipment," I informed her.

"Ah, I see," she nodded in understanding. "In that case, let's take a look at what we have and we can start the lesson after that."

With that Eina led me to the same corridor as yesterday, but we went much further on it and ended up in a large room filled with various equipment. There were a bunch of swords, spears, hammers, knives, staves, shields, armors and more. Seeing those weapons before me really highlighted the difference between my old and new world. A display like this in my old world would be nothing more than a curiosity or a display piece. Here, they are everyday tools of survival. Survival which is not in the least bit guaranteed down in the dungeon.

In a daze, I touched a few of the closest swords and shields and I could tell, even by touch, that these were meant to be used, not paraded around. Amazing. If even basic starting gear gives out a feeling like that, then what would a masterpiece that costs millions be like? With luck, I will come across at least one in the future.

"This is the armory that the Guild manages. Its purpose is to provide adventurers with good quality yet affordable equipment. Those who don't possess the necessary capital to purchase equipment for themselves can take out a loan for it and gradually pay back the Guild," Eina explained.

That was about what I expected. I debated if I wanted to take out a loan, but I don't like to owe someone money, and like it even less when it's an organization I'm in debt to, so, as long as it's reasonable, I will just by the equipment I want.

Eina also explained that there were two main reasons this room was so well stocked. First, it was partly because adventurers that start out sometimes end up quitting shortly after and the Guild buys their equipment for a good price. The other reason is that beginner or otherwise less known smiths provide the Guild with heavily discounted pieces that serve as an advertisement for them.

While I was listening to Eina's explanation, I was browsing among the available weapons to see which would be the best for me. I tried out a few small knives, short swords, even a kukri, but none felt destructive enough in my hands.

That was when something caught my eye. I almost dismissed it out of hand for obvious reasons, but the more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea. Was it a smart idea? Most likely not. Would the benefits outweigh the possible problems with it? Maybe. Would it be awesome? Definitely.

"Avrora, you are not thinking what I think you're thinking, right? Please say no," Eina pleaded with me. Seeing her gaze go back and forth between me and the object of my interest, I was resigned to disappoint her again.

I expanded my Territory, since it was hanging on the wall behind racks of weapons, so I couldn't have reached it any other way, and marked it. It took a fair bit of Mind, but much less than my body did. Accompanied by Eina's whimper of disappointment, I moved the comically large greatsword to my hands and started to swing it. And by swing it, I mean grab the handle, which my small hand could barely reach around, and hold onto it while I swung it via telekinesis. It must be entertaining to see a less than one meter tall little girl swing around a huge ass buster sword larger and significantly heavier than her entire body. Heheh, I just couldn't resist.

"Avrora, will you listen to a myriad of good reasons why it's not a good idea for you to choose that weapon, or should I just save my breath?" Eina asked with a sigh and a palm covering half her face. It seems she acclimated fast to my unreasonableness.

"Sorry, but big sword, I can hide behind it, and has enough weight to be deadly enough," I searched for valid sounding reasons to give. "I will train until I can carry it full-time," I promised her.

That was a promise I intended to keep. It will also serve as a perfect subject to test how the weight of the object correlates with Mind consumption, both just by keeping it marked and also if I wave it around via telekinesis. If I only lessen its weight and not negate it entirely, then I can also use it to exercise.

I tried to look as hopeful as possible while hugging its handle as if it was a stuffed toy. After a few moments, she caved to my request.

"Fine, fine, but we will talk about every advantage and disadvantage it will bring during our lesson, and also some basic tactics to use against each monster type. Got it?" I eagerly nodded.

I feel like a kid that successfully talked her mom into buying a toy for her. Well, it's a toy that is one and a half times taller than me and weighs about three times as much, and it will be used to kill things, so yeah. At least it doesn't have that slashed off look at the tip like Cloud's buster sword, that would've been too much of a coincidence. It has a normal triangle looking tip which I don't know the name of, if it has one.

There was no scabbard for it, only a harness you needed to wear under your coat or armor probably, and an over the clothes part you could hook it on. It took us a few minutes, but adjusting all the straps to the minimum allowed me to wear it more comfortably than I expected and it did its job perfectly by allowing me to carry the sword on my back without it scraping the ground.

I tried letting it regain its weight gradually, just to see if I could carry it without support, but almost falling to my knees before it even approached half its original weight quickly disabused me of the notion. Testing its weight will be the perfect way to measure my progress.

The tag hanging off the sword informed me that it only cost 6,800 valis, so it was within the limits I imposed on myself. I was wondering when I would need to pay, but not seeing anyone around besides Eina and myself I assumed I will need to pay for it to Eina during or after our lesson.

Since there were no armors small enough for me here, we didn't have any reason to remain in the armory after choosing my weapon, thus Eina commandeered an empty room for our lesson.

Before we started in earnest, I paid what I had to for my new sword that was resting in my lap since I couldn't keep it on my back while sitting. The fact I paid for it out of pocket surprised Eina, since she thought I would be buying it on a loan. To that, I told her that I don't like to owe anything if I can help it.

The lesson took up quite a bit of time and consisted of a basic instruction on communication between adventurers down in the dungeon, for which I was particularly grateful, and in-depth descriptions of the first two floors of the dungeon, monsters included.

The lesson about communication between adventurers was very informative, since it also included what not to do, like kill stealing, barging into a room that a party already occupied, leading a bunch of monsters into another party, which was called a Pass Parade, and such action that elicit a reaction of 'God, what a dick'. It was also customary to help others out only if they requested it, or in such dire straits that it becomes an issue of life or death if left alone.

The Upper Floors, as the one through twelfth are called, are very well documented, which means readily available detailed maps of the floors and well-known monster spawning rates and behaviors. All of which Eina was determined to cram into my head, which I agreed with naturally. Why wouldn't I want to know everything about the place that will actively try to murder me for the foreseeable future?

I decided to not dick around and buy the maps for the first five floors, which set me back another five hundred valis, but it should be worth it, since I can study them back in my room and even bring them with me into the dungeon when I finally reach that point.

Sometimes I have to fight down the urge to just roll into the dungeon and work out some frustration on its denizens, but I need to be prepared first as much as I can. This is not a game in which I can just try out the dungeon and reload from a save point if it proves too much.

We also discussed basic strategies to use with my shiny new weapon. Well, most of it came down to 'use its weight to mow down everything before they could get even close to me'. It was also decided that I wouldn't wear armor at first, since if I can't kill something in seconds with my big ass sword, then the only thing to do is run away, which would only be hindered by armor. Maybe later I could get some light weight armor made for my tiny frame, but until then it's probably not worth it.

"Eina-san, I have a plan," I said while resting my elbows on the newly christened Biggy, short for Big Ass Sword. "Please say if you disagree."

In the following minutes, I outlined my plan for hiding my Skill and ability from nosy individuals, which wasn't that easy with my still broken Japanese, but I managed to convey the main idea. In essence, I would try to hide it entirely at first, and when that fails I would confess to having a Magic called Ether Hands, which allows me to operate two invisible spectral hands. That should prove to be enough of an explanation to avoid people digging any more into the issue.

"I see," Eina said while thinking about my plan. "I think that should work for ordinary adventurers, but you should avoid speaking to Gods about it, since they are always able to tell when mortals lie to them. Other than that, I think it's a good plan that has a fair chance of working."

Receiving her acceptance of my plan gave me a bit of a relief and also a determination to avoid speaking to Gods, or at least avoid topic related to Skills and Falna with them.

All in all, it was a very worthwhile way to spend my time. It reminded me of the classes at university I actually enjoyed.

After a lot of deliberation, we decided that I would start my first run of the dungeon on the fifth or sixth day from today, depending on how my training goes. If I don't buy anything else in the meantime, then I'll still have about half of my starting money left, which should be enough if I have to fork some out for the treatment of possible injuries. I also thought about buying potions, but the Guild provides one healing potion for beginners and a Mind potion costs almost ten thousand valis, so fuck that with a particularly blunt spoon, I'll just have to be careful with my Mind usage until I'm rolling in dough.

On my way back to the Hostess of Fertility I took stock of my basic objectives.

My first goal was to find shelter and sustenance, which I accomplished by successfully renting a place to sleep at the Hostess. Living in the same building that houses a fighting potential that rivals many large Familias is also a plus regarding my peace of mind.

I also managed to complete basically everything I needed to do in order to be allowed down into the dungeon. Registration, equipment, basic lessons. All that remains is getting my stats high enough.

That means my next four and a half days will be filled with as much hellish training as I'm able to cram in, with short reprieves in the form of lessons with Eina. In my old world I had a tendency to overdo my exercises, but thanks to the Falna, I don't have to worry about overworking now as much. I will also have that health potion the Guild issued as a last resort.

I think I'll also need that few days to emotionally prepare myself. It's all well and good to train until I can bench press a minotaur, but if I freeze up before delivering a killing blow to the enemy then I'm still in deep shit.

I'll have to keep in mind that the monsters would gleefully use my entrails as a jumping rope if I gave them the opportunity. I know there are dungeon born sapient monsters called Xenos that are exceptions to that rule, but I doubt I will run across them on the Upper Floors. There should be nothing holding me back from exterminating every monster I stumble upon on floor one through twelve. Still, even if I know it intellectually, it will take some time to recognize it emotionally.

Ruminating on those thoughts I've found myself back at the Hostess of Fertility. Standing in front of the pub with Biggy on my back, and seeing the narrowed eyes of Ryuu, who was sweeping the front, I realized I might not have thought this through enough.

I tried to be as casual as possible while nodding to her, but inwardly I was panicking. The sword on my back doesn't look like it belongs to a beginner adventurer, even less a young pallum like me. I might get a tad suspicious if I were in her place too. Well, I haven't told anyone here that I only got my Falna two days ago, so it might not be that big of a deal. I can hope at least.

After receiving a tentative nod back from Ryuu, I quickly made my way back to my room. I picked up my lunch basket too on the way.

Up in my room, I spent the next half an hour peacefully eating my lunch and preparing myself for the mind-numbing training I will need to do in the next four to five days. Finishing my last sandwich, I threw myself into my training with some enthusiasm, bolstered by the whole not wanting to die thing.

* * *

In retrospect, I might have overdone it a little. After four days of nothing else than training, eating, sleeping, listening to Eina for about an hour a day, and avoiding Syr as best as I could, I can finally say with near certainty that I'm ready for my first foray into the dungeon. My new stat page seems to agree with that assessment too.

**Name ****Avrora ****Lvl. 1**

**Strength 20→287 ****G**

**Endurance 5→****88 ****I**

**Dexterity 15→****120 ****H**

**Agility 27→****279 ****G**

**Magic 61→****368 ****F**

**Skills ****Invictus**

Having Biggy on hand proved to be a real boon for raising Strength and Magic both. For example, suspending the whole sword above me, then performing pull-ups using its handle, with my boots weighted down, was particularly effective.

I didn't have much room to swing Biggy around too much, so the most I practiced were straight swings, which also helped me improve my ability to make marked objects lighter or heavier with a more granular control. That allowed me to gradually increase Biggy's weight in my hands to provide the most challenge.

As a side note, judging from the fact that Agility went up as much as it did, without me needing to run around or dodge a lot, my theory of it being partially a mental stat seems to have been validated. By the end of my fourth training day, I was training my Agility by juggling ten coins at the same time without marking them and only sensing them via my Territory. Of course this wasn't the common way of juggling where performers throw the items according to a pattern to make it easier to throw falling objects back up, but one where all the coins were spread out all around me, even behind my back, and I had to keep them in the air with short bursts of force, rather than the old marking method. That took all my concentration even with my raised stats.

If someone saw me in my old world sitting on the floor in my room, eyes closed, coins being tossed around me without any visible cause, they might've called an exorcist on me. Thankfully, that's not a point of worry here. It would be scarier instead if that theoretical someone called an actual god on me here.

My Territory expanded to more than eight and a half meters too, so my theory about that seems to be still holding.

"So. Today's the day," I said to myself. I was standing in my room, with my full gear on, just having finished breakfast. We came to an agreement with Eina to make today my first day in the dungeon. She fussed over me something fierce yesterday, so much so that she barely wanted to let me go home after our lesson. It was nice seeing her care about my well-being, even if it was only because it's her job to do so and her trauma about the subject.

With a deep sigh and a last look around my room, I set out to kill monsters and earn money.


	6. Chapter 6

On my way to the tower, I realized that I was so focused on training that I haven't once taken a look at what was inside Babel during my first week in Orario. Not like it would've helped me with my training, but I walked around it every day on my way to the Guild headquarters, yet I never once looked inside.

When I finally stepped inside the giant structure, the first thing that captured my attention was the incredibly lifelike painting of the sky on the ceiling. It was probably a way to lift the spirits of adventurers that reach the surface after an extended stint down in the dungeons. Still, it was really quite beautiful, a masterpiece for certain.

A quick glance also allowed me to identify the entrances to the medical center, the guild's exchange, and a place where adventurers could take a shower before going outside in case they are covered in all kinds of monster entrails.

Aside from those, the other things worth mentioning were the giant pillars and numerous obsidian stones, filled with engravings of heroic tales of past adventurers. I might even take a closer look at them in the future.

Lastly, surrounded by handrails, there was the huge hole in the floor containing a spiral staircase leading to the entrance of the actual dungeon beneath the tower. Walking closer to the rails made me remember that I was really fucking not okay with heights. Some of it was due to how rails like this always felt like they were especially designed to make it easier for tall people, like I used to be, to fall over them, since they were the perfect height to not quite reach my center of gravity. The rest of it was simply acrophobia, which seems to be present and accounted for still. I hope by the time I'm ready to soar the skies I will be able to get over it.

Nonetheless, I forced myself to follow the steps downwards, but still keeping to the wall as much as possible. It took me a good fifteen minutes to arrive at the bottom due to my unsteady legs, but I finally made it down. The snide looks and comments from some adventurers didn't make my spirit soar, but fuck, this is my first time down here. Gimme a break.

Making sure my legs regained their stability, I continued on my quest.

My plan was a simple one for today, get down to the first floor, find a room somewhat out of the way and kill enemies as they spawn. Adventurers rarely settle down on floor one, so the most populated part is the shortest route to the second floor. Still, there are only a few rooms that are not on that route due to the first floor not being that big, so if I'm unlucky all of them might be taken. In that case, I will go down another level and try my luck there with the same plan.

Further in, the dungeon itself looked like a generic cave, but with a certain atmosphere that screamed of a guiding intelligence behind its structure. The height of the tunnels was mostly uniform and evenly lit by crystals in the ceiling. The first floor was made up of a bunch of mid-sized rooms connected by fairly long hallways. Aside from the main route leading to the second floor, there were a few offshoot corridors with rarely visited rooms connected to them. One of those was my goal today.

Thankfully, it wasn't necessary to descend another floor to find a free room, since the room we pegged as a perfect target with Eina was empty. Not counting the two goblins that started running towards me to rip my throat out the second I appeared in the entrance.

My answer to their screaming was in the form of Biggy, which bisected the screeching pair without any fanfare.

After a minute my heart was still pounding, even though the entire encounter didn't last more than five seconds I couldn't just casually disregard how it felt to be the target of such a simple-minded intent to kill, slaughter, eradicate, massacre, murder. If I didn't imagine this exact scenario many times during the last week, I might not have been able to react in time.

Yet, this is what I've signed up for.

I could've chosen the easy way out by working at the Hostess, but I didn't.

I could've led a fairly easy life under the protection of one of the strongest groups in the city, but I didn't.

I choose this in order to amount to something, to worth something, to make a difference. It will take more than a bunch of rabid monsters to deter me from continuing on my chosen path.

With renewed determination, I crouched down next to the upper halves of the two goblins in order to extract their magic stones. I noticed that their lower half had already mostly dispersed and their top halves have also started the process. I've found this very interesting.

I remember that one of the jobs of a Supporter is to move the corpses out of the way and extract their stones while the other adventurers continue killing monsters. Of course, this tactic is more important on the lower levels where spawn times are much faster and more monsters attack at the same time, but if all monster remains turn to dust after about two minutes, then there would be no need to dig for magic stones. All you would need to do is wait for a bit and gather the stones left over after the corpse dissolves.

I know that if you destroy the stone inside their body, then they instantly turn to dust, but you also lose the stone, so it's not an advisable strategy unless other factors make it necessary, for example fighting for your life against an overwhelming force, or killing lower level mobs that are not worth your time anymore. However, this was not the case here.

As I watched the process come to an end, I could only come up with one possible cause for it. Maybe the fact I separated a significant part of the goblin from direct contact from the part that housed the magic stone caused it to quicken its decomposition. This bears investigation.

I gathered up the two fingernail-sized stones and took a position in the center of the room with Biggy back on my back. I would've liked to keep it in front of me facing down and rest my hands on its handle and guard, but I would've only ended up hanging from it if I attempted that pose due to its size, so back on my back it went.

While I was waiting for the next spawn I extended my Territory so it covered most of the room. It was a fairly large room, therefore I couldn't cover it entirely. However, the birth of monsters is a noisy business, thus I was in no danger of sneak attacks by monsters born from the walls of this room.

After a few moments of waiting, I witnessed the birth of three monsters at the same time. The sound of falling stones alerted me that two was born on each side of the exit of the room, and one directly behind me from the back wall. It was interesting to note that the dungeon already created them in position to encircle me and cut off my escape.

Not caring about the two that were crawling out of the wall to block my escape route, I turned my back to them and with the same motion, I drew Biggy from my back. Barely out of the wall, the goblin didn't have the time to put up any kind of defense before I pushed my sword into its guts, once again splitting the goblin in twain, due to Biggy being wider than the creature itself.

With one out of the picture, I turned my attention back to the remaining two to see them rushing me, not caring about keeping me in the room for longer, only listening to their instincts that demand my eradication.

I prepared my sword for a horizontal cut, but since the two were far enough that one slash wouldn't be able to cut through both, I started focusing on the closer of the two incoming goblins. When it reached about three meters from me I sent a burst of telekinetic force right into its ugly face.

All I could see from the result was the goblin flying back and its legs flipping over once before impacting the floor a bit away. Judging from the crunch that accompanied its acrobatic performance it won't be available for an encore anymore, so all that was left was the third goblin approaching fast and furiously. To welcome it properly I stepped forward and to the side and batted it away using the flat side of my blade.

Since I used every bit of physical power I had, augmented by quite a bit of telekinesis on Biggy in addition to the usual lightening, I was quite sure the goblin wouldn't be getting up again. The impact against the far wall also supported my belief.

I waited for a few seconds, but none of the three showed any signs of life anymore.

The one I finished first was already on its way to crumbling away, which was in line with my expectations that monsters not only killed but sufficiently destroyed decay much faster, leaving behind the magic stone without the disgusting part of needing to dig for them.

While the corpse was turning into dust, I went to check on the other two I managed to take out. The closer one was the one with the 'boom, headshot', so I inspected it first. It turned out to be a damn gruesome sight. It looked like someone took a bowling ball and repeatedly bashed its face in. I couldn't help but grimace, even if I was the one responsible for it.

At least I know that a mid-powered telekinesis shot was able to eliminate a goblin if properly targeted in the face. I'll have to check if one can survive the same if I shoot one in its torso somewhere.

Another thing to note was that the corpse didn't start to decompose even by the time I completed my inspection of it, even though the first one was already gone, leaving only the magic stone behind.

As I was walking towards the third corpse, I was scared shitless by another goblin running in through the room's entrance towards me, screaming its head off. Biggy was on my back again and I was so startled that the goblin managed to close the distance between us before I could regain my composure and draw it. It was that panic that fueled my next action which was to wildly gesture with my hands like I was parting the curtains to take a peek outside. However, the result of this gesture was not an eyeful of outside scenery, but the scene of the goblin being literally ripped apart into two, with its parts impacting on opposite walls.

"God, Fucking, Dammit," was the only three words I could utter as I was breathing quickly and leaning on my knees after that event.

I haven't been in the dungeon for even an hour and it already managed to blindside me once. Fucking asshole dungeon. The visceral response to freeze up when attacked like that is not that easy to overcome it seems.

"No matter," I said as I straightened up, "I will be more vigilant next time."

Even though I saw how two goblins were born in the position to keep me in the room, I didn't think it was because reinforcements were on the way too. Not wanting to fall for more of the same I took Biggy into my hands and kept it there for now, just to be sure.

The third goblin, which I pretty much pulped it seems, still haven't started to decompose, so my theory that dismemberment is needed to quicken the disintegration process seems to be holding up.

I almost tried to mark the goblin corpse to move it to the back wall to extract its stone in peace, but then I remembered I should test first if doing so ends up with an explosive result. I didn't think it would, but standing next to the corpse while finding out the opposite might not be the best idea.

Thus I first moved to the exit of the room, checked outside for other sneaky goblins that don't have the decency to scream loudly enough before entering the room, and not finding any such I started marking the body of the headshotted goblin, which was just in range of my Territory. Almost entirely hidden by the wall of the exit, I was carefully watching the process, but nothing untoward happened.

When the marking completed however, I felt the presence of the magic stone inside the body, which was part of it, yet different enough in nature to be recognized as a different object to my marking. That means while I marked the corpse of the goblin, I didn't mark the magic stone inside its body yet, and if something wants to go boom, then the magic stone has the highest chance of doing so.

Therefore I hid even more of my body behind the wall and started to mark the magic stone. I covered my head waiting for an explosion, hoping I wasn't about to start a nuclear reaction somehow. It turned out, there was no need to cover my head, the marking process went ahead without problems, it didn't even take much Mind to mark it.

Armed with the knowledge that I wasn't about to start the nuclear apocalypse by marking a magic stone I walked back into the room. Standing next to the headshotted goblin I contemplated on taking out my dagger and digging out the stone, which would be easier now that I know exactly where it is, but then I got another idea.

I stepped back two steps in case it turned out to be messier than I expected, then I simply moved the magic stone outside the body, while keeping the corpse itself back on the ground. Some crunching and snapping noises later I was the owner of a freshly extracted magic stone.

Neat. No need to dig in entrails. It didn't even take much effort to extract. If I do it without marking the body itself, then it will be even less. There was even a slightly pulped volunteer right over there to test it on.

Closing in to about three meters I started to search for the magic stone inside its body without marking the corpse first. This was harder than my usual detection within my Territory because I haven't so far tried to sense through solid matter before. It was always about detecting things not in my line of sight, but I haven't yet tried to look at the insides of objects.

A few minutes later I was fairly certain I was doing something wrong, since this felt like it was even harder to do than simply marking the whole thing. I also didn't really appreciate the crash course in goblin biology I was getting from even the small patch on its torso I was trying to penetrate with my sensing ray thing. So I stopped it for the time being.

Staring at the corpse for a few minutes netted me a kind of feeling of the existence of the magic stone inside the body. Concentrating on it more allowed me to finally mark the magic stone itself without marking the whole corpse first. All-in-all, it was a much more complicated process than the double marking one, but if I work on sensing the magic stone inside the body, it may become more economical to use.

The next few minutes were spent on determining the level of force that was needed to most effectively wrench the stone out of the corpse. The sight of the dead body jerking upward every few seconds while I was just staring at it would be some spooky shit to witness if I didn't know what was going on. Since I was close enough to the entrance to monitor the parts of the corridor that have a direct line of sight on it, there wasn't much chance of anyone ending up in that position.

Finally, I've found out the best level of force and angle to extract the stone. If I wrench it upwards it gets caught on the ribcage of the body in question, so it's better to angle it downwards first, and then tug on quickly and with quite a bit of force to reach the best result.

The process very much resembles the way an alien bursts out from a human's torso, so it's nevertheless gruesome as fuck, but I feel it's still better than going elbow deep to uncover the stone manually.

With the last goblin corpse finally losing its cohesion, I walked around the room to gather the remaining two stones from my first and last victim of this spawn. As I expected the one I telekinetically ripped into two was already entirely decomposed, so I've only found the magic stone in question. That maneuver of ripping a goblin in half took quite a bit out of me, so I can't really go around and rip enemies apart with seemingly but a gaze just yet. If not sooner, than I will be able to do it to all monsters below floor five with ease by the time I hit Level 2.

I've found myself in the center of the room once again, waiting for the next spawn. The first batch only contained goblins, so kobolds might also make an appearance soon. Kobolds are upright walking dog-like or wolf-like monsters that are about on par with goblins, maybe a little nimbler than them. They shouldn't prove to be a problem in small numbers either.

Using my time wisely until the next encounter, I checked my weapon for damage, but found none, thankfully. I also took stock of the approximate amount of Mind I still had, which was lower than I wanted it to be, but still far from even half down, so it was fine. These downtimes will make sure I won't run out even if I spend the whole day in here.

It wasn't much later that the telltale sounds of monsters being born reached my ears once again. This time there were five places I immediately could identify as a point where monsters were about to spring forth in short order.

Facing five monsters at the same time felt a bit too much on my third encounter ever, but no-one would call the dungeon fair.

I moved to a position where I was the most likely able to face all five of the mobs and prepared to unleash my ultimate move.

As the three kobolds and two goblins finally experienced, my ultimate move consisted of me swishing Biggy back and forth like it's a balloon sword and mincing everything it comes into contact with. Which eventually turned out to be all five of the incoming monsters. This really showed the lack of tactical thinking on the part of monsters on the first few floors.

According to Eina, this behavior doesn't really change until floor six, and even then it's only marginally better until level eleven, where the monsters get noticeably smarter on every two floors or so. The most strategy I can expect here on the Upper Floors will be coming from the dungeon itself, with the placement and timing of newly born monsters and such.

Speaking of timing, I only just finished gathering up the last five magic stones from the floor, since hacking them apart once again expedited the decomposition process, when I heard the next batch of monsters being born. This interval was much smaller than the previous and even the floor average that I learned from Eina. It looks like the dungeon is trying to overwhelm me.

The sounds and signs of eight distinct birth points opening along the walls seem to concur with that supposition too. Time to take out the stops for a bit.

"Ether Hands," I whispered to get into the habit of covering for my use of telekinesis with the fake Skill I thought up.

I let go of Biggy, which contrary to general expectations stayed put in the air in the exact same position it was while in my hands, then I took out my dagger from my belt and assumed a self-defense position with it.

When the first monster emerged from the wall entirely, Biggy was there to smite it out of existence. The slash that bisected the kobold also left a fairly big gash on the wall behind it too, although that was not my intention. Although Biggy is nice and all, but hacking away at the dungeon walls with it is probably not in its job description, so that course of action might damage it more than necessary. Therefore I will need to hold back on damaging the dungeon walls until I come into the possession of weapons that don't mind that kind of handling.

A durandal weapon would be nice if they didn't cost about a hundred million valis.

But back to the currently unfolding battle to the death. As I cut apart the next four monsters with the same slash with Biggy, I noted that without the reach constraints of my small arms I could perform a horizontal cut with a much higher reach. By much bigger, I mean instead of about two meters radius when in my hands, I can comfortably extend that to the eight meter radius my Territory currently has. This time it meant killing four monsters instead of one with the same move.

The other important difference between me having Biggy in my hands and the way I'm currently operating it with only telekinesis is how I don't have downtime between a slash and the next where I first need to pull back the sword to swing it again. I can just use its momentum to hack apart the remaining enemies. There wasn't much they were able to do against a slicing and dicing one and a half meter long big ass flying sword of death.

When all the visible enemies were neutralized I called back Biggy next to me and waited for another few moments to see if any of them were still alive, although I doubted it, and to watch out for any other reinforcements coming through the room's only opening.

Seeing all but one of the remaining corpses well on their way of turning to dust I could be sure that the battle ended for now. There was one corpse that I didn't cut through all the way, so it was still in one piece. It will prove useful for the magic stone extraction practice. There was one that burst into dust the moment my sword passed through it during the battle, so I must've accidentally cut through its stone.

It's a shame, I'll have to be more careful in the future to avoid that. I'm still at the point where every magic stone drop is important.

While I waited for most of the corpses to decompose I tried to locate the magic stone inside the single more or less intact body. As it turned out, it was significantly easier to locate when I already knew how to look for it correctly. Right after all the other corpses vanished I managed to extract the last magic stone too. Another seven magic stones going to my satchel.

So far I was sitting at eighteen pieces, which I had no idea if it was a lot or not since that was a question I neglected to ask Eina during our lessons. Oh well, I will find out when I report back to her in the afternoon.

Since most of the wall surface in the room was still wrecked from the birth of monsters it was fairly safe to sit down and have a short breather, which I took advantage of immediately. It was basic adventurer knowledge that walls don't give birth to the next monster until it returns to its original state. This regeneration was the slowest on the first floor, so I still had plenty of time to replenish my Mind and process what happened so far.

My Mind reserves almost hit the point where I would be executing an expeditious retreat, but hopefully it won't be needed after this break. The unplanned heavy telekinesis use on the ambushing goblin and the unrestricted blade of death maneuver used up my Mind faster than I was able to regain.

Thankfully, I don't think my first hour can be called average for the first floor, thus I expect less adversity in the near future. I don't want to overrate my current capabilities, but facing eight monsters right after five others is not something an absolute beginner could face alone and come out alive. However, I also feel validated in my choice of training my stats first before coming down here. If I didn't I would most likely be dead or at least severely injured after a welcoming party like this.

In the end, I was right, since in the next few hours I was only attacked eighteen more times, which was about once every twenty minutes. Shit, I still don't why I can tell the time this well when I don't even have a watch, but it's getting spooky. It's not like I have a digital clock on my non-existent HUD that tells me these time-related things.

Okay, back to how I fared on my first day here. I spent roughly seven hours not moving from this room, only chopping up monsters when they popped out of the walls from time to time. I basically used the same tactics as I did during my first few fights. Hack away at them with my sword if there were only one or two coming at me at the same time, telekinetic blast if there was a third, and long-range slice and dicing in case of four and more. A fairly straightforward strategy, but it got me through the day with no injuries, so it was good enough.

My mystical time telling ability informed me it was only about three in the afternoon, but I decided to call it quits for today. Spending seven hours down here on my first day should be good enough. All that swinging Biggy around got me fairly tired and hungry too, since I didn't bring any lunch with me. I will have to rectify this starting tomorrow. Perhaps I will bundle up part of my breakfast and bring that.

With those thoughts running through my head I left the room I occupied for the last seven hours and headed towards to the dungeon's exit. On my way, I ran across two kobolds which I quickly dispatched and gathered up their stones. I was pretty happy that I ran into them, since now my magic stones numbered ninety one pieces, so I can keep one as a souvenir from my first foray into the dungeon and exchange a nice round number of ninety for money.

On the main route of the floor, I saw a few adventurers starting to trickle back up towards the surface. According to Eina, most Level 1 adventurer parties leave the dungeon by six in the evening, so they can exchange their loot and spend the early night getting drunk in pubs and taverns. I guess the Hostess of Fertility is one of those places.

I just reached the big hole with the stairs when I noticed the murmurs of the adventurers near me increasing sharply. I raised my head to see what the commotion was about and managed to identify the source in short order.

The Loki Familia was walking down the steps.

A week already passed since Aiz gained her fifth level, so Loki Familia was most likely on its way to its next expedition. It's somewhat strange they chose to set out in the middle of the afternoon, but if they plan to stop at Floor 18, which is a safe zone, then the timing is more or less understandable.

I most certainly did not expect to run into the heroes of the story on my first day in the dungeon. A surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one.

I didn't even bother to hide my inquisitive gaze. They are a famous Familia, attracting the gaze of everyone wherever they go, they must be used to the stares by now. I was nothing but one more inconsequential gawking Low Class adventurer amongst many.

Still, I used this opportunity to try and carve their appearance into my mind to serve as a reminder. These are the living legends I aim to live up to someday. Seeing them together like this, on their way to conquer the dangerous depths, really highlights the fact that I really have no business being near them. I can feel their sense of purpose, of determination. I can feel power behind each step they take, even while they are joking around and just chatting between themselves I can sense the strength of their presence that fills the room.

The Sword Princess, the amazon sisters, the werewolf, the elf princess and the pallum hero. I can sense their strength of character and I find myself severely lacking.

Catch up to these giants in less than three years? What a fucking joke. As I'm currently am I don't think I can crawl out of the masses of mediocre adventurers if I had a decade. I need to be more. I need to be better.

To be able to become someone that could be mentioned on the same page as them someday.

I stood near the wall as I waited for the procession to go by, my feelings a jumbled mess. I wasn't staring at them anymore, instead, I was looking at the ground trying to sort my head out before going topside again.

Stealing another glance at their collective backs, I came to the conclusion that I don't think I will be able to reach that goal I set out for myself. However, I don't have a life here in this world. No family, no friends, no home, no history. All I have now the goal I set myself, so I will at least try and take a swing at it before folding like a house of cards. It's the least and most I can do.


	7. Chapter 7

**WARNING: Heavy Spoilers from the Light Novels, if you don't want to get spoiled on Season 2, then you might want to stop reading for now.**

* * *

I left the dungeon in a decidedly morose state. I hoped that actually seeing the narratively important characters I aim to emulate on some level would leave me with renewed determination and a drive to measure up to them, but I guess this is another facet of me that differs from people that are worthy of becoming a protagonist.

It's so stupid, it's not like they performed some crazy feat of excellence right in front of me, they just simply walked by and even that left me rattled like hell.

As I kept replaying the scene in my mind and examining my feelings on it, I slowly realized that I may have somewhat misattributed my reaction. The thing that left me rattled perhaps wasn't just their overwhelming ability as adventurers, but the casual comradery they displayed. Joking amongst themselves, smiling, getting irritated and irritating others in turn. A place they can belong to. A place like I will never be able to have, thanks to my abnormal background and irregular Falna.

I can't do much else but accept that fact and move on.

Getting lost in thought has the unintended side effect of putting the body on basically autopilot, which, as it turns out, wanted to get back to the safety of my room as soon as possible. That would've been fine, if I didn't need to report back to Eina before anything else. I can't even imagine how much I would exasperate her trauma if I didn't report in after my first day when we agreed I would.

Changing my heading I started moving towards the Guild headquarters.

While walking towards my destination, I recounted my day and started to formulate the report I would share with Eina. After the first hour I remembered to write down a short description of each encounter on some paper I managed to obtain from her when I mentioned my plan of taking notes between fights in the dungeon. This way I don't need to worry about not remembering things clearly enough at the end of the day.

Thanks to my relatively early departure from the dungeon I was able to avoid the evening rush, so the streets and the Guild itself were not that populated as they would be later. I may want to keep this timing in the future too.

My advisor was also free right away, so I greeted her and we retreated into a free room to discuss my first day. She looked decidedly relieved to see me in one piece. I propped Biggy against the wall and sat down across her as usual.

"Avrora, it's good to see you uninjured. How was your first day in the dungeon?" she asked while smiling, relief still evident in her mannerism.

"Passable, I would say. I have a few observations regarding it," I answered without much emotion in my voice while getting my notes out of my bag.

As I discovered during my training days, the writing system here uses mostly latin characters, with some exceptions. Which is very interesting, since their spoken language is distinctly japanese. It seems they are basically writing in a romaji equivalent way, with the exception of foreign words, like Falna, dungeon, Babel, names of gods, etc. It's a very weird mix.

Thus my english notes are essentially unreadable to anyone but me, so I can't just hand over my notes for Eina to peruse. I have to convey the information on them via spoken word. This doesn't bother me, in fact it's better this way, since I don't have to worry about anyone else finding things out by reading them if I forget to hide some things during note-taking.

"I'll start with a basic overview," I started my report. I waited a moment to see if she had other ideas, but not seeing any indication of that, I continued. Thankfully I was able to get into the mindset of speaking japanese in the last five days, so I was now able to speak with less broken sentences.

"Overall, I spent about seven hours in the dungeon. Most of that was spent in the room we determined to be the best for that purpose. I received no injuries and were able to dispatch every monster that was born in the room during my stay there," I summarized.

"Seven hours? That's much longer than I would've expected," she said, eyes widening a bit. "Maybe there were more adventurers on the first floor today than usual and took up more of the Floor's capacity. Were you able to take notes about the fights you faced?"

"Yes," I nodded and started reciting my notes on the topic, "aside from the two goblins already present in the room, I encountered three monster spawns per hour on average. Their numbers ranged from three to eight at maximum," "Eight!?", Eina exclaimed, "although that only happened once in the first hour," I continued without regard to Eina's outburst. I get that eight is a bit more than usual, but it wasn't that big of a deal.

"As a result, I managed to acquire ninety-one magic stones," "Ninety-one!?" "which came from thirty-nine goblins and fifty-nine kobolds. Sadly seven stones were destroyed in battle," I said while sending a somewhat reproachful gaze towards the half-elf. She shouldn't lose her composure from every little thing.

"I suspect the dungeon tried to overwhelm me at first, judging from the fact that it sent nearly double the number of monsters at me in the first hour as opposed to the rest of the day's hourly average."

Eina just held her forehead and slowly shook her head. At least she wasn't loudly echoing what I was saying anymore. Still, just silently shaking her head at me while I'm presenting my theory seems a tad rude to me.

"Let me get this straight," she started saying while looking at me from between her fingers that still covered a large part of her face. "On your first day, you managed to spend your entire time in a room that by all signs displayed an unusually high rate of spawn for the first floor and managed to not only keep up, but even take notes between fights? On your first day?" she asked, looking at me incredulously.

I tilted my head, not really comprehending what she found that unusual. Aside from the one time I was startled by one goblin and the time when an eight pack attacked right after another group, there wasn't anything a basic starting adventurer couldn't take care of.

"Yes?" I half asked, half said. "I think it was an okay first day to get used to the basics of how an adventurer operates, but I was planning on moving to another room on the first floor that has another room close by, so I can alternate between them. By the end of the day, it got a little repetitive and boring staying in the same room."

"Repetitive...? Boring...?" she looked at me with a blank expression. After a few seconds she just sighed and moved on. "Haah, fine. What about your sword? Were there any problems with it?" she asked, glancing at my greatsword next to the wall.

"No, no, Biggy was a great help," I denied immediately. "I think it was a large reason it was so easy to take care of monsters."

As I was talking I moved Biggy next to my seat, turned it upside down on the way and reached out so it looked like I was holding the entire sword by the pommel with a single finger. Eina was a bit startled since she wasn't yet used to such casual displays of abnormality yet, but she got over it quickly.

"That reminds me, I was wondering if you could tell me where I could take Biggy for regular checkups, so it doesn't deteriorate or even break at a bad time," I inquired while playing with my sword by seemingly flipping it upside down with one finger still, supporting it alternatingly by its pommel and its tip. Of course if it had any weight at all the tip would most likely puncture my finger, so this might look a bit surreal.

"For new weapons, I would recommend the wares of Hephaestus Familia, but for maintenance, I think Goibniu Familia might be better," she said while eyeing the way Biggy was moving and proceeded to draw up a map for me on one of my note papers.

It seems the Goibniu Familia workshops are situated in the upper left slice of the city, which means between North Main and North-West Main. Thankfully that slice is basically the safest part of Orario, so there shouldn't be any danger of wandering the side-streets in there.

"Thank you, I think I will visit it sometime in the coming days," I thanked Eina for the directions.

"You're welcome. I already intended to recommend it soon, but it's good that you managed to think of it yourself. Beginner adventurers rarely acknowledge the fact their equipment can break, unless someone harshly reminds them or experience it for themselves," she explained.

"Well, then they are stupid," I declared.

"Hah," she let out a short laugh, "you can say it that way, yes," she agreed, smiling at me.

After that, we spent the rest of the meeting discussing my plan of moving to another room and managed to find a pair on the map that seemed to satisfy my conditions. I also assured Eina that I always keep enough power in reserve to escape from any possible worst-case scenario that could conceivably happen on Floor 1 & 2. That seemed to placate her a lot.

In the end, I didn't tell Eina about my updatable-by-self Falna, yet she likely realized that there is something funky about that too. Nonetheless, she must've decided to not pry into that, which I'm very grateful for.

In the end we finished up the meeting and Eina went back to a reception desk and I lined up for the exchange. It seems while we had our discussion a bunch of adventurers flooded the place. I usually dislike the presence of strangers, but somehow standing in a queue like this doesn't bother me as much, as long as no one tries to initiate a conversation with me, of course.

The line proceeded quickly and soon I managed to exchange the ninety magic stones beside the one I already stashed away in another pocket. All-in-all, I got 7,800 valis for my troubles. It was more than I expected to be honest.

I also got to peek at the way they determined the exchange value of the entire haul. They have some kind of detector that shows how much magic the stones inside the machine contain overall. It's a fairly fast process thankfully. They also round to the nearest fifty valis, so that's why it's a round number like that.

If I assume that I can earn at least this much money every day, then I won't need to worry about my rent any time soon. I hope I can earn enough to get some basic but quality armor soon too. From what I saw in the starter gear armory here in the Guild, there aren't any durable yet lightweight enough ones that would fit me well enough, so it's best to save up and commission one as soon as possible.

With all my business finished in the Guild I waved to Eina and left the building. I thought about visiting the Goibniu Family workshop, but decided to wait for a few more days until I have more valis ready. Biggy is made of sterner stuff than to break in a few days.

Since I skipped lunch and fought the whole day since morning, my stomach started to really protest on my way back to the Hostess. Thankfully there should be a basket of sandwiches still waiting for me there since lunch.

And yet, Fate decreed that I had to overcome another obstacle before I could reach out and seize that much-needed sustenance. That obstacle came in the form of Syr, who I crossed paths with at the door of the pub as she was on her way to sweep the front and probably entrap some unsuspecting adventurers into visiting the establishment. In truth, I haven't talked with Syr ever since my second day here, partly because she wasn't working every day and she doesn't live here either, and partly because I managed to avoid her the rest of the time. As her gaze shifted to Biggy and her eyes widened with surprise, I realized she hasn't seen me with it yet.

The only one that saw me with it should be just Ryuu, who is not the type to gossip about such things, so I guess the information hasn't reached her either.

Therefore, I surrendered to the inevitability of the oncoming questions.

"Avrora-chan! I haven't seen you in a while. Where did you get that big sword? Isn't it too heavy for you?" she started the interrogation.

Where did I get the sword? What kind of answer does she expect to that? I stole it? I found it on the side of the road and I brought it with me because I felt sorry for it? Someone threw it at me and I decided to keep it?

"I bought it from the Guild as starter equipment. It's not that heavy," I said while throwing a glance at the handle that I can easily see just by turning my head to the right a little.

And, of course, by not that heavy I mean if I had managed to swing it without the telekinetic lightening, then it would most likely drag me right along with it.

"You already registered at the Guild? I thought you would take another few days before you do that. Was there any problems with the registration?"

"No. Everything went well."

"Are you joining a party? There must be a party that can take you under their wing, it would be much safer too. There are many adventurers that started out as supporters, children usually start out that way," she advocated. I guess it's a basic instinct for most people to warn away children who are about to do something foolish, and the greatsword on my back very much indicates that I'm planning on becoming a regular adventurer and not a supporter. From their point of view, that's a very risky scenario for me.

"I'm not planning on joining a party. I will try to remain solo for the time being. I'm reasonably certain I can do it," I assured her. This way I conveyed that I wasn't waiting for a helping hand in finding a good party and I indeed sincerely wished to go at it alone.

Syr furrowed her brows at that answer, but didn't continue to pester me about it. I hoped that would be the case.

"Well, if you are sure...," she said with uncertainty. "If you need help with something don't hesitate to ask, okay?" she looked at me with a very persuasive air about her.

"S-sure," I replied under the effect of a failed saving throw of her persuasion check. It's not like she would've let me go if I didn't answer in the affirmative in some way, so it doesn't really matter.

With that, I nodded a goodbye at her and walked around so I wouldn't bump my sword against her legs or head. I was finally free to raid the upstairs kitchen which thankfully contained the Basket of Continued Existence +1, which I appropriated at once and retreated to my room with it.

For the next half an hour or so I just reveled in the taste of heavenly ambrosia in the form of sandwiches and avoided thinking about anything at all.

Sadly, that state of affairs came to end faster than I would've liked. It was finally time to mull over what I knew of the future according to the story and choose my immediate objectives based on that. I tried to not think about those thus far, but now that I can positively say that I'm able to support myself with my adventurer job, it's time for further planning.

There are four topics I must give due consideration to. There are two which I currently can't do much about, one that is not that time sensitive, and one that I need to come up with a plan regarding as soon as possible.

The first two problems are the Xenoi and Evilus.

In the light novels, they were only referred to as Xenos, which basically means stranger, and is a singular form, but I will have to use the plural form of Xenoi if I want to keep my notes and most of my thinking in english for now or it will get really confusing really fast.

Xenoi are sapient monsters born from the dungeon, with most of them having the ability to speak. They are also designated as an enemy by regular dungeon monsters, which is another point in favor of treating them as just another race of mortals. As an outsider, it's much easier for me to do just that, but for others that perhaps already lost some people to the dungeon and its monsters, it's a much harder prospect.

In the light novels, they finally achieve a shaky truce thanks in part to the actions of Hestia Familia, but some Xenoi and adventurers still fall victim to each other along the way. Of course, it's mainly the topical antagonists' fault, namely the Ikelos Familia, but it's still something I would like to avert if possible.

Of course with my power still much too insufficient I can't physically do anything about it yet. The only thing I could manage now is to share information with someone I trust to use it for a better outcome. Ordinarily, I wouldn't trust any god with my future knowledge and the fact that I possess that knowledge, but Ouranos might be a possible exception to that. In the story, he tried to protect the Xenoi as much as possible and worked against Evilus when he could, as far as I could tell. He, I may be able to trust with having the same goals.

He wouldn't try to shoehorn me into his own Familia, since he is the head of the Guild, therefore he leads no Familia. The only one to still have his Falna is a more than eight-hundred years old skeleton named Fels.

Having the leader of the Guild owe me for the information I would provide also has some appeal.

Still, it's highly unlikely that I would be able to speak with Ouranos or even Fels without some kind of achievement to point at first, proving that I'm not just some delusional ten-year-old pallum girl. Even if I might be able to convince them face to face to listen to me, I wouldn't be able to get through the people I need to convince first to even get to that point.

Therefore I have to set this topic aside for now.

The second subject of deliberation is the aforementioned Evilus. It's an organization that reared its ugly head after the expulsion of Zeus and Hera families. Their members were a bunch of psychos with absolutely no morals that turned Orario into a war-zone for a number of years.

Finally, they were apparently defeated after they tried to hoodwink everyone else and go into hiding by perpetrating the Nightmare on the 27th Floor, which caused the deaths of many adventurers, including Ryuu Lion's entire Familia. However, Finn Deimne from Loki Familia saw through the ruse and led a coalition that took out the leaders of Evilus.

After that, Ryuu went terminator on the rest that even tangentially supported Evilus, which should've meant the end of the organization. Sadly, the events of Sword Oratoria disprove that assumption. In the end, they manage to cause a lot of deaths along with the mysterious Enyo, who wasn't yet identified by the time my memories run out.

I'm honestly surprised I even remember this much detail. I think my memory retention and recall improved significantly within this new body.

Information about Evilus and Enyo can be called even more important than the information regarding the Xenoi, even if they overlap a little. Still, the same things restrict me from sharing it with Ouranos, so this topic also has to be shelved for now.

The third topic and the not that time sensitive one is Liliruca Arde.

She is a pallum supporter who seriously drew the short end of the stick.

After her junkie parents died in the dungeon chasing their next fix, she was left alone in the Soma Familia, which was filled with more of the kind of addicts her parents were. Soma is a god that lives solely for his hobby, disregarding everything that has nothing to do with making wine. The wine is said to be so good that the absolute majority of those who taste it turn into addicts right away and do anything to get their next fix. Since the completed version that's the most addictive isn't sold outside the Familia, they are able to escape penalties, but even so, it makes the Soma Familia members one of the most unscrupulous assholes around.

That kind of environment is not the best place to grow up in, that is for sure, and Lili had to endure the scorn and maltreatment coming from the same people that should've been her family. Due to that, she grew up hating adventurers that look down and bully supporters like it's their god given right.

She even tried to run away and live a normal life, but some Soma Familia members found out and destroyed the flower shop of the elderly couple that took Lili in. The resentful expression she received from the husband and wife must've cut Lili deep to the bone that time.

I don't think I would've been able to survive all that Lili did. I honestly admire her tenacity and strength of will.

In the end, she took to thieving mainly with her shape-shifting magic called Cinder Ella and fleecing adventurers whenever the opportunity presented itself. I very much can't blame her for it.

She is someone I would like to help out once I'm able, but she is doing fine on her own currently, with no more especially harsh events I know of between now and the start of the main story three years from now. Therefore, I would call this matter not time sensitive. Once I know I can provide more assistance than moral support for her, I will revisit this objective of mine as well.

The fourth subject and the one that most likely needs my immediate attention is Sanjouno Haruhime.

She is a clear example of a tragic heroine.

Her father was a typical asshole noble through and through, and Haruhime considered her family home in the Far East to be a prison. She was also a very gentle and benevolent soul, seeing how she convinced her father to donate some food to the shrine the Takemikazuchi Familia was living at. She dreamed of leaving her home in the future and saw the children from the Takemikazuchi Familia as heroes when they smuggled her out from time to time to play.

Nonetheless, when she was framed for having eaten a religious offering by a pallum guest, she was disowned and thrown away like yesterday's garbage by her so-called father. Subsequently, she was then taken away by the pallum guest, then their caravan got attacked by monsters. This caused the pallum to run away and leave her to her fate, yet she managed to survive. However, once again she was captured by bandits and almost sold to a brothel in Orario, but was instead caught the attention of Ishtar who bought her and forced her to become a prostitute in time.

That is what sends my blood absolutely boiling. If I could I would send Ishtar packing back to heaven without a second thought. Even remembering that due to the intervention of Aisha Belka, her sister-like minder, and due to her tendency to faint when seeing a customer even partially naked she was able to avoid having to actually perform as a prostitute, the thought itself is enough to send my Territory in a near frenzy. I need to get it under control before people arrive expecting an explanation for the noise the vibrating chairs and tables are currently making.

Deep breath, condense Territory, levitate a bit so my condensed Territory doesn't do more than cause some air currents.

After a few minutes, I calmed down enough to continue my thought process.

Even though she refused help due to believing she had indeed done her enforced duty, she was eventually rescued by the protagonist, Bell, and Yamato Mikoto, one of her friends from the Takemikazuchi Familia, with a generous helping of assistance by the Freya Familia of course. That incident ended up with Haruhime becoming a part of Hestia Familia and the Ishtar Familia disbanding, due to Freya sending Ishtar back topside.

One more important factor and the main reason why Ishtar Familia considered Haruhime important was her magic that allowed another adventurer to perform one Level above their original for a certain time. This magic of hers became an important tool in the Familia's arsenal, and because of that they planned to perform a ritual that bound that ability of her into an inanimate object, called the Killing Stone, at the cost of her life. This stone was made to contain the soul of a renard, or fox person, in order to use the magic of the renard in question as a simple magic tool. In theory, this would only leave the body of the victim soulless, but alive, and when the Killing Stone returns to the body the victim would revive with no worse for wear.

However, another attribute of the Killing Stone is that it could be broken apart, which would allow every single piece the ability to function the same way as the whole Stone. In that case, the soul of the renard would also shatter and even if every such piece managed to find its way back to the body, the renard in question would be nothing more than an automaton with a severely damaged psyche.

Thankfully, that plan was thwarted when Bell and Mikoto rescued her.

Now, back to the current state of affairs instead of the possible future. She is currently about thirteen years old, which should mean she is currently living as a prostitute-in-training. I very much hope that they are not forcing a thirteen years old girl to work, even for them, that would be low as fuck.

So, the question is, what can I do to get her out of there?

One might bring up the fact that even if I leave her alone, she will be fine once the protagonist gets around to rescuing her. That she was ultimately unhurt and took her rightful place at the side of her rescuers. That any intervention from my side would just be unneeded meddling.

To that my answer would be fuck no. Haruhime's frequent turn of phrase was 'even though I'm just a prostitute' both before and after her liberation. It's obvious that even though she was physically unhurt, the five years of captivity in the Ishtar Familia left deep emotional scars on her. If I could lessen that hurt, then I very much should. If I could spare her from three more years of steadily degrading self-worth, then I have to. If I can excise that 'even though I'm just a prostitute' phrase from her diction, then it would all be worth it.

Now that I established that there is absolutely no way I'm leaving her there a minute more than necessary, I have to take stock of what stands in the way of my goal.

Firstly, Haruhime is a much-valued tool of Ishtar, who plans to empower an army with Haruhime's power to take down her rival Freya, which is pretty much an obsession for her. That means she would rebuff any offers of monetary compensation for her freedom, thus that's not a workable method. It would've been the easiest way the resolve this, but with Haruhime's magic in the equation, it's just not possible.

Therefore, I can conclude that there is no way to resolve this peacefully.

That doesn't mean that after one more week in the dungeon I will walk up to their doorstep and try to whoop the asses of their entire Familia. That would have a pretty obvious outcome that would not be pretty.

Still, there is a way to sic another comparable force on them by giving information to the Guild. About one year before now, Ishtar Familia was accused of misconduct, when some other Familias noted that their fighting force was performing well above what would be expected of them judging by their reported Levels. Thus the Guild conducted an investigation which required Ishtar Familia to report the full Status of their entire adventurer lineup. Even with that, in the end, the Guild hasn't found any proof of any rule violations, which allowed the Ishtar Familia to demand a substantial monetary compensation from the Guild and to also ultimately destroy all the Familias that accused them.

If they knew the reason for that disparity between the reported Level and performance was a non-combatant member of the Familia that was smuggled into the dungeon without permission, then the Guild might revisit the investigation.

However, there is a very large problem with that.

It would mean revealing the effect of Haruhime's magic. Oh, in theory, it would be just to the Guild at first, which wouldn't be that big of a deal, but I have no doubt it would leak out some way, even if the Guild was inclined to hide it. And that would result in Haruhime constantly being targeted by those that wish to perform that same damned ritual that Ishtar plans on doing. Even if she joined a top Familia that could protect her in theory, it would only serve as a gilded cage for her, since any time she left their headquarters without a substantial guard detail she would be in serious danger.

Still, in my opinion, it would still be better than her current living arrangements, so if it comes down to a choice between the two, I will let her choose for herself.

Therefore, the method of siccing another Familia on them, while it would possibly work, it would most likely not bring about the optimal outcome, so for the time being it remains as a possible alternative.

So, no peaceful method, no brute force, no brute force via proxy, no political shenanigans.

That only leaves covert actions, in other words, the ninja method.

Just abduct her right out of her room, then fly away on a bicycle like E.T. and all's well that ends well, right? Hah, no.

While taking her in the middle of the night without anyone noticing would be hard, but not impossible, the tracker collar she is made to wear would shock her as soon as she left the bounds of the Pleasure Quarter and would lead the pursuing Ishtar Familia right to her.

As a magic tool, I have no idea how hard it would be to remove without injuring Haruhime herself. There is a chance that she only got the collar later than the current time, but I can't depend on that possibility.

Another serious problem is the Falna itself that Haruhime received from Ishtar. It's not really advertised, but once branded by the Falna of a deity, there is virtually no way for the blessed to disobey their god or goddess. Of course, it doesn't mean that every Familia member would have to obey every word of their deity, but that it's possible for the deity to give orders to them that they can't refuse. This is a large reason why most people shy away from getting their own Falna.

Ishtar also has her Charm, which can leave a person an absolutely servile drooling idiot. Thankfully, both of those methods need the goddess to be in close proximity to the target, so it's not impossible to evade.

After considering every alternative I was able to think of, I think the best way would be to abduct Haruhime and let her live a fairly normal life under sufficient disguise until Ishtar is taken care of. Since Ishtar is also a supporter of Evilus, it's highly unlikely she would escape judgment at the time when it all comes to head in the future.

Oh shit, that's right, she is in league with Evilus. Can I use this somehow?

Sadly, the answer seems to be no. It has the same problems as the original Evilus issue, that I don't think people would believe me, since it's not an easy thing to verify, unlike Haruhime's magic. So, no dice.

Sitting on my bedding, I was looking down with my chin resting on my palm and contemplating the possible repercussions and trap falls of the aforementioned ninja method when my gaze focused on my stomach. That reminded me of a possibility that was pretty meaningless before now, but might be relevant to the current topic.

The fact that I can manipulate my own Falna.

How is it relevant? Because there is a possibility that I can manipulate other people's Falna as well. If this was true, then I might conceivably have a way to cut off Haruhime from Ishtar entirely. That way we won't have to worry about possible Skills or Magic that can track people via a blessing, similar to how Yamato Mikoto had a Skill that was able to search for people of the same Familia as her. That would mitigate the risk considerably, especially if that cut off could be mistaken for the owner of the Falna dying. That would be ideal.

Still, I would have to first try that with someone else's Falna first to see if there is an option for it at all. Sadly, I don't have anyone that would trust me enough to try it on them. Out of the three people I even spoke with more than two words in this world, only Mama Mia even has a Falna and that's out of the question obviously.

For some reason, my thoughts keep flashing back to Syr and her de facto order to ask for help if I need it. And need it I do. Maybe not for the execution itself, but I think I need a second opinion on the whole thing, since as an outsider here, I might overlook something obvious that any native would notice immediately.

My immediate instinct is to not involve anyone else and do it by myself, but I have to put the well-being of Haruhime herself first. I might think of myself of hot shit enough to infiltrate the headquarters of Ishtar Familia and extract Haruhime without anyone noticing, but if I happen to fail, then that's it. If I had someone else in my corner, then the probability of succeeding would go up significantly.

And when I think about who could be that someone else, there is only one person I can come up with.

Someone who is more than capable of assisting me. Someone that I would trust explicitly to not betray me, even if I share the truth about Haruhime. Someone that I hope would hear out my plea and not let an injustice like that go.

I think I will need to talk to Ryuu Lion.


	8. Chapter 8

I let out a sigh.

I always had the bad habit of wanting to jump head first into something once I got sufficiently worked up about it, but I can usually temper that enthusiasm with logic and caution. My general reluctance to act if it meant interacting with people also helped out.

Even so, I want to help out Haruhime. It might be a naive decision, it might not be the best idea that I ever had, but I don't think I would enjoy living with myself if I knew about her plight and decided to simply ignore it.

I could even rationalize my decision by bringing up the fact that it would be a blow to Ishtar and consequently Evilus, which she provides funds for, and that having someone with a powerful magic like that on the side of not evil assholes would be a definite boon.

Judging from the fact that Bell was able to stumble upon Haruhime's room in the novels and not get discovered or kicked out for a good while, even while everyone was looking for him, it's likely that Haruhime's main defense is security through obscurity. If no-one knows she is special besides a select few individuals, then no-one would want to rescue or abduct her. That means that having her under constant heavy guard would just tip people off about her importance.

Only my existence and knowledge of her circumstances throw a wrench in that plan.

Seeing the horizon dyed orange through the window I noticed that it was quite late already, so I pulled myself out from my ruminations and walked down to the bar to acquire today's dinner. It seems I arrived later than I usually do, so there were more adventurers making merry than I usually see. I don't like to be in the presence of drunken people, so I promptly ordered my food and paid for it together with my daily rent as usual.

As I was packing away my dinner, I took some glances at the crowd of mostly adventurers at the tables. It was a strange feeling to know that after my first day in the dungeon today, I could be counted as one of them. Seeing them getting drunk, partying it up and being a general nuisance, that feeling turned to aversion in short order. I was never a partying type of person, so I don't think I would want to associate myself with the large majority of adventurers if people like these are representative of what I can expect.

With that conclusion, I quickly finished up my food and left to pick up a change of clothes for the shower. I managed to avoid getting monster guts on myself, so I wasn't that dirty, but I worked up some sweat during that seven hours down in the dungeon.

After taking a shower and washing the clothes I was wearing today I returned to my room. As soon as I put my head down on the pillow the day's exhaustion caught up with me. I guess I was so high strung all day due to my first dungeon visit that I managed to ignore it until now.

Needless to say, I was out like a light in short order.

I woke up barely after sunrise first, but I didn't want to wait for my breakfast while awake, so I went to sleep again. The second time I woke up the sky was much brighter, so I donned my gear and swiped my breakfast. Learning from yesterday, I made sure to pack away at least half of it for lunch in the dungeon.

I contemplated updating my Falna, but finally decided against it. I was already probably well overqualified for the First Floor in terms of my stats, so I should prioritize actually learning to combat the monsters, instead of simply stomping them with overwhelming force and Biggy.

I need to prepare for sticky situations where I can't just flex my metaphysical muscles and blow away the problem with telekinesis. Be it because of insufficient Mind or an enemy that's so much stronger than me that my telekinesis proves lacking in comparison. In other words, I need to avoid becoming a one trick pony.

With everything ready, I marked Biggy that was leaning against the wall and moved it to my back and set out for round two in the dungeon.

On my way to the gigantic building in the center of the city, I thought back to my plan of bailing out Haruhime. The impatient part of me wants to do it as soon as possible, but thankfully it's my logical side's job to determine just when that is exactly.

Therefore, I decided that I would give myself one month to concentrate on getting further in the dungeon and raise my stats as much as possible. When the month ends, I will once again reevaluate my chances.

Before going down to the First Floor I bought four more healing potions, just to be sure, now that I could afford it without problems. I seemed to remember healing potions were priced at 500 valis, but it seems shops in Babel operate on higher markup rates than shops outside since they cost me 800 valis per. It doesn't matter for now. I will find another shop in the future, but these will do as a start.

After finishing my transaction I descended into the dark abyss called a dungeon that was fairly well illuminated all things considered.

I made a beeline to the rooms Eina and I agreed on, and thankfully I haven't seen anyone with similar ambitions that would prevent me from carrying out my plan for today. Taking Biggy into my hands I quietly approached the first room, which at a glance seemed to contain three kobolds meandering about. I was just deliberating how to approach them exactly when the closest one seemed to smell something and whip its head to the entrance while growling.

Hearing their comrade's growls, the other two also noticed me and the three of them shot out towards me with less than peaceful intentions.

With not much choice anymore I readied Biggy and took some quick steps to avoid them surrounding me. That meant I was standing in the middle of the entrance of the room, blocking their way out. Three of them lunged at me at the same time, not caring about getting in each other's way. This allowed me to slash out once, kill two and injure the remaining one with the same move. The third managed to stop just short of my blade, but it still took a nasty gash in its leg.

I was waiting for the last one to rush me even with an injured leg, but for several moments all it did was growl and howl at me. I was about to move forward and finish it when I sensed something with my Territory. It came as such a surprise that I involuntarily whipped my head in the direction I sensed it from. This allowed me to see another four kobolds sneaking towards me, probably trying to catch me unawares. I was thankful for the sensing ability of my Territory, not just because I caught the occupants of the other room trying to sneak attack me, but also because the injured kobold used the opportunity born from me looking away to try and kill me before its brethren arrived.

Since I knew exactly where the attacking kobold was at all times, I already started to swing Biggy before I turned my head back all the way. Cutting its warcry short, I wasted no time turning around and taking my place behind the three no longer moving bodies of the kobolds, standing ready for the four other assailants that were about to pop up in the entrance.

The incoming kobolds arrived just as predicted, baring their fangs and growling as usual. As soon as they saw me they lunged at me, with absolutely no concern for the bodies of the other kobolds that were yet to fully decompose. It was obvious these monsters were nothing more than murder machines with exceptions regards to other dungeon monsters, but they had no comradery or any other feelings beside overwhelming animosity towards every other living being.

Seeing that, I dashed to the side to minimize the number of monsters able to face me at the same time. Before they were able to spread out and surround me once more I darted forwards with Biggy at the ready and tried to take out as many at once as possible. Since I was faster than them thanks to my fairly high Agility stat, I was able to disable two at the same time, but the other two used their chance to attack me at the end of my slash.

To ward against their assault I spun Biggy in my hands and brought it up so that the flat of its blade was shielding me against the claws and teeth of the dog-like monsters. Next, I pushed out with my sword, which successfully shoved the two remaining enemies back, allowing me to perform another overhanded slash that was able to dispatch the last two kobolds.

After yesterday, I noted that I barely moved during my encounters. Thanks to the weight of Biggy and the fall-back option of my telekinesis I had no need to dodge and move around the battlefield at all. This was something I wanted to fix before delving deeper and encountering monsters that wouldn't allow such a stationary fighting style. It's better to learn now with less dangerous monsters first. I wouldn't want to end up flattened because I wasn't able to avoid a rolling attack of a Hard Armored, an armadillo-like monster on the eleventh through thirteenth floor.

From that point of view, this first fight was already better than yesterday, since I was able to move in a way that was advantageous to me. Of course, I still have much to learn about it, but it's a good start.

During my reflections the bodies themselves disappeared, leaving behind seven magic stones. Since all of the bodies were in more than one piece they all turned to dust quickly. Without further ado, I marked the magic stones and stashed them away in my bag. It was a very nice shoulder bag, with the option of also fixing it to my waist, preventing it from moving too much in a battle. It was a good buy for sure.

Checking with my Territory first, then with my own eyes, there weren't any more monsters laying in wait in the corridor, so I walked the short distance to the other room the second wave of kobolds came from and checked it out for any remaining enemies. Not finding any I walked back to the first room and started doing practice moves with my sword.

I wanted to stagger the spawn time between rooms, but it might not be doable if every time I fight one bunch the occupants of the other room shows up. Maybe if I kill them quickly enough after their spawn, they won't be able to notify the others and I could wait a few minutes before taking care of the other room and stagger their respawn that way. Of course, the dungeon could decide that fuck respawn time and hasten or delay it to screw me over. Nonetheless, I will try it first and see what happens.

So far I haven't seen any high-level adventurers actually using a sword, but I can feel that my handling of it is very jerky and less than graceful, so in the absence of a teacher all I could do is try and find better ways to move.

After a few minutes, a spawn containing three goblins and a kobold tried to cut my practice short, but I quickly disabused them of this notion, and also their lives. I moved around quickly and cut them apart barely after they left the safety of the dungeon wall. When I was done picking up their magic stones I took a few minutes long break to rest and to keep quiet so the monsters that were probably in the other room wouldn't notice me.

Roughly five minutes later I approached the other room, in which I could sense five monsters with my Territory. Taking a quick peek it became apparent that I missed one that was far enough near the back wall that it was outside my range currently. That meant taking on six monsters at the same time.

Yesterday, this many was cause for using the fake Ether Hands magic and telekinesis, but I think I can take care of this many even without them. If not, then telekinesis is always available.

Thankfully the sole kobold was the furthest one, so it wasn't able to smell me in time before I rushed in and bisected two goblins before they could put up a defense. The remaining four were all over the room, so I couldn't keep up the multikills if I wanted to preserve my momentum, thus I dashed towards a lone goblin on the left side of the room. This left my back open to the others in a way, but since I could sense their every move, even behind me, the danger was greatly mitigated.

Cutting through the monster's meager defenses I spun around and lunged at the two nearest enemies which were now close enough to each other that I could eliminate them at the same time.

This left the only kobold in the room, which was still a bit away, but already well within my Territory. As a finisher, I threw Biggy in its direction, spinning and moving fast enough that the kobold barely even noticed that its head was separated from its body and flew all the way to the back wall. It then bounced back from it and dissipated before it would've finally hit the floor. The kobold's headless body also slumped down and quickly decomposed, leaving behind its magic stone.

Looking around the room I verified that there were no hostiles left, so I pulled back Biggy and gathered up my loot. Which, to my surprise, also contained a Kobold Nail, which I haven't noticed at first. Interesting, this is the first drop item I got since I started. I wonder if getting a drop item on the second day is good or bad, and the fact that I had to kill more than one hundred monsters to get one is unlucky or not. If I consider that drop items come from monsters that have a particularly strong concentration of magic in a part of their body, which remains even after their stones are removed, then I guess getting one at all on the First Floor where the weakest monsters live could be considered lucky.

Pocketing the drop item, I walked back to the first room, wondering if I want to keep my first drop item too, like my first magic stone. In the end, I decided to keep it as well.

Keeping up my sword practice I got into the routine of clearing one room then the other. It seems the dungeon wasn't in the mood to change up its schedule, since staggering the spawn times apparently worked like a charm. I like to think that I didn't get overconfident in the process, but since I can't be an objective observer I can't be sure. At least nothing happened that would indicate that I did.

After about two hours, I decided to experiment a bit, since I had plenty of Mind to burn due to not using telekinesis as much, besides the usual lightening of Biggy.

The experiment consisted of me immobilizing the sole surviving goblin of a particular wave with telekinesis, which was already something I haven't tried before, and scanning it for its magic stone. Immobilizing the goblin was not that hard all things considered, but only because I could dedicate all my attention to it. As for the stone, it was easier to find it inside a living body but also harder to mark. All-in-all, it took a few seconds of concentration until I reached the point where I could tear the stone itself from the body, but when I did, to my surprise, it caused the goblin to immediately turn to dust, just like when a magic stone is destroyed while still inside the body of a monster.

The only two problems with this method are that it takes too long to find and mark the stone to be useful in battle and that it takes a tad too much Mind over-all to be worth it. Nonetheless, I think if I practice this method enough, then I may become proficient enough with it to use in battle where I sufficiently outrank the monsters. For example, by the time I hit Level 2, I should be able to walk through a small swarm of Killer Ants and tear out the stones of every single one that comes close to me without raising a finger. At least I think so.

Thus, my day went on in the same vein, sword practice, killing monsters practice, stone extraction practice. A few adventurers found the room I was staying in at the time, but they all left after a quick glance around. Thankfully, every time that happened was when I was between spawns, so none saw me fight. Aside from that, I ate lunch when I was hungry enough, which also allowed me to spend a bit more time in the dungeon than yesterday, so instead of seven hours, it was about eight. Towards the end I took more breaks instead of practicing all the time during downtime, but I felt I've done okay for my second day on the job. I even managed to find another Kobold Nail drop item too. This way I can turn one in and keep the first as a souvenir with no problem.

On my way out I haven't come across any monsters, only a few obvious beginner adventurers meandering about, some of them looking puzzled for some reason. I had zero inclination to ask any of them about it, so I simply walked out of the dungeon and made my way to the Guild headquarters. I debated on exchanging my loot in the Guild exchange within Babel, but I think for the first few days it would be best to report to Eina with my loot on me, so she can verify I'm telling the truth. I have a slight suspicion that the number of monsters I encountered today was somewhat higher than usual, so she might not entirely believe me without proof.

I got here a bit later than yesterday, so there were more people in the building, but hopefully not enough to prevent Eina from leaving the counter for a bit to talk with me.

When she noticed me, she closed up her desk right away and motioned towards the door that led to the side rooms where we could talk in private.

"Hello, Avrora. How did your second day go?" she asked once we sat down at our customary positions. "A few adventurers reported that the First Floor was unusually quiet today. Some beginners spent quite a bit of time wandering the Floor, looking for monsters and some went down deeper to find more. I hope you kept to what we discussed and weren't among them."

My eyebrows shot towards my hairline from that tidbit of information, since my experience was quite unlike what was described.

"No, I spent the day alternating between the two rooms we agreed on, but...," I trailed off, confusion still on my face.

"What? Did something out of the ordinary happen?" she asked with some urgency, her eyes scanning me over for signs of injuries and such.

"Well, I don't know if it's unusual or not, but...," I hesitated for a moment, then continued. "I haven't experienced any shortage of monsters..., maybe even the opposite. Well, it might be easier if I report the details first."

With that, I took out the notes I took today and started reciting the relevant information.

"I arrived at the designated rooms at roughly 8 in the morning. The first room contained three kobolds, one of which managed to catch my scent and therefore expose me before I could mount a sneak attack. I managed to dispatch two immediately, but one was only injured. While it distracted me, four other kobolds closed in on my position, hoping to catch me unawares. It didn't work because I was able to sense them once they entered my range. To avoid having them surround me I quickly took out the injured kobold and moved into the room to provide them only one way of approaching me. After that, I was able to slay them in short order."

I glanced up at Eina, who was dutifully listening to everything I was saying. I shared some details of my first fight to give her an impression on how I usually fight.

"By quickly finishing off the next spawn in the room I was able to stagger the spawn times between rooms, which remained on schedule until I left the dungeon."

It looked like Eina wanted to interject with something, but finally decided against it since my report was not yet finished.

"During the day I alternated between the rooms, just as we planned. As for the low spawn rate of monsters, I experienced about the same rate of spawn as I did yesterday, maybe even a bit more."

"How many?" she asked in a resigned voice, with her eyes closed and head in her hand.

"The overall number of monsters I managed to slay today was 232," to that Eina let out a sound something akin to a gurgle, grumble and a moan combined. Most of the time the words of 'I'm so done with this shit.' tend to follow a sound like that, but I guess Eina is more professional than that. "I accidentally destroyed six of the stones, so the total loot today comes to 226 magic stones. Oh, and I also found two Kobold Nail drop items, from which I would like to keep one. I think this about covers today."

I carefully put my notes back in my bag, then sat there in silence, waiting for Eina's verdict.

Finally, she recovered enough to react. "You don't do anything by half, do you, Avrora?" she said, her voice very much tinged with exasperation.

"I'm sorry," I hung my head down. She probably rues the day I showed up here to register. Hanging my baggage on her shoulders is something I'm still ashamed of, but she was the only one I could trust. I will try to reach the point where I can be trusted to look out for myself as soon as possible, so I can avoid making her deal with me on a daily basis.

"No, you don't need to apologize, you didn't do anything wrong. This is a learning experience for both of us. The situation might be outside the norm, but we'll just have to adapt," she tried to reassure me.

"Now that I know how many monsters you encountered," she continued, "I'm fairly certain the low spawn rate on the First Floor was because you took up most of the spawning capacity of the floor. This happens very rarely and it's usually because of a higher level adventurer is camping out on one of the Upper Floors. To achieve this on your second day, even if it's the First Floor, is nothing short of astonishing."

That almost sounded like praise to my ears, but it's more likely that it's a scolding for me for inconveniencing a bunch of people that hunted on the same floor.

"Therefore, I think you should move down another Floor tomorrow and repeat the same two-room strategy. I wanted to keep you on the First Floor for another day or two, just to be sure, but I can't really argue with such a persuasive result you managed today. Aside from the fact that Dungeon Lizards also start to appear on the Second Floor, it's very much the same difficulty as the first. It will most likely feel just as easy as the First Floor, but the Second Floor is a bit bigger and has more spawning capacity too, so it will be enough of an increment for now. You can also get accustomed to fighting the new lizard type enemy."

My own plan was to go down a level and start from one room again, but looking back at today I also think that would be too conservative. I nodded to indicate that I also agree with her plan.

After that, she talked about drop items in a bit more detail, how rare each type tends to be, what they are used for and such. Apparently, Kobold Nails drop in about one in a hundred, so getting two before killing two hundred kobolds can be called lucky. However, not getting any drops from the goblins counterbalances it enough. Nails, teeth, horns, scales and such are usually used to forge weapons and armors, thanks to the relatively high concentration of adamantite they contain. Of course, it's nothing more than trace amounts on lower levels, but even that allows blacksmiths to create sturdier weapons than conventionally possible.

There are also other kinds of drops that can be used as ingredients for various potions, so it's not like the only attribute that determines the item's value is how high its adamantite content is.

Finishing up our meeting for today we started walking back towards the reception when a fairly large door grabbed my attention on the way. With the help of a small pictogram next to the text on the sign, I realized that it was a library.

"Eina-san, would it be possible for me to visit the library sometimes?" I asked, hoping that the library would be free to visit and not restricted for Guild employees.

"Oh, that's right, I haven't told you about that yet. All adventurers can visit the library any time during the day, so feel free to browse it whenever you like. It's just ordinary adventurers rarely take advantage of the opportunity. The only ones that like to read are those that plan on becoming a mage and those people usually join a Familia with other mages in it so they could learn from them. Such Familia libraries generally contain more specialized knowledge for aspirant mages, therefore even they don't normally visit this library."

Hm, a library more focused on general knowledge. Just what the doctor ordered for the poor otherworlder out of his — well I guess her, now — depths here. I have a bunch of things I want to look up, like how magic tools and appliances are made for example. Not only do I think it might come in handy in the future, but I'm also motivated by professional curiosity.

Determined to come back in the coming days I followed Eina back to the reception room and lined up for the exchange after saying goodbye to her.

I knew I took out more than twice the number of monsters as yesterday, but receiving a fairly heavy pouch of money that held a total of 19,700 valis really surprised me. Even I can tell that's much more than a beginner should get in one day. Well, I won't complain about getting more money than normal. Although, the exchange price of 500 valis for a Kobold Nail took me by surprise. I expected more than that honestly.

Pouch in my bag, I left the Guild and started heading back to the Hostess.

On the way back I noticed a familiar group of bushes, the very same ones that helped me hide from the world just after getting dropped in it. My spiritual sanctuary, as I described it. Heh, it was barely a week ago and so much changed in the meantime. I can safely say I was very lucky that everything went as well as it did. I was able to secure a source of food, a roof over my head and something of a stable income. Discounting the abrupt nature of my arrival and the missing explanation, all-in-all it was a fairly tame introduction to this world. With that in mind, I don't know if I should be feeling thankful or angry at Gaia, so I'll do my best and do both.

Ending my rumination I continued on my way back to my room.

Dodging the busy staff of the pub, I retrieved my usual lunch basket and retreated to my nest. After a ten minute break of just relaxing, I turned my focus to the topic that most required my attention at this time, which was my expedited progression through the dungeon Floors.

Back to plotting for the future while eating sandwiches. It's almost tradition by now.

I originally thought that I would spend a few days on each Floor before going further down, but it seems I will have to breeze through the first few until I reach one where my presence wouldn't cause a disturbance like today. I could also hold back and stay in one room the whole day, but the most important thing I need now is probably fighting experience, which I would not get by stomping a few goblins and kobolds every twenty minutes or so.

However, that also means it will be that much sooner that I come across an enemy or a group of enemies that will finally be able to hurt me. Currently, the reach and power of Biggy allows me to avoid any and all dangers that individual or small group of monsters could pose to me on the first few Floors, but that also means I won't be able to get accustomed to the pain that comes with even glancing injuries. I need to find a way to reliably bolster my defenses.

Ordinarily, there are two ways to achieve this.

First is to raise the Endurance stat, which uniformly strengthens the body of the adventurer to ward against injuries. This allows people to get thrown through stone pillars and barely be fazed by it on higher levels. It's basically an overall damage reduction. But, of course, the best way to raise it is getting hit and intentionally getting injured is not the smartest thing to do down in the dungeon without someone to watch out for you. If I had someone like that, then I would just ask that person to beat me up in a spar instead. Much safer.

The second way is to get armor. But what about the parts that the armor doesn't cover, one might ask. As it turns out, armors here have a peculiar trait associated with them. The higher quality they are the higher portion their defense comes from their ability to augment the wearer's Endurance stat. That means that even if the armor itself doesn't directly block a hit, it still reduces the damage thanks to that trait.

This phenomenon gave birth to the practice of creating armors that seemingly don't cover all that much of the adventurer's vulnerable points. However, this also allows the armor to not take direct hits most of the time, therefore keeping it in working order for longer to provide additional damage reduction for the entire body.

Basically, armor mostly runs on gaming logic here. The less it covers, the more defense it provides. Only, it's not just for females here like in many games.

The First Class Adventurers of Loki Familia are the perfect example for this, since after Gareth, the dwarf warrior, the most armored fighter is the Sword Princess herself and no one can accuse her of being over-armored. For mobile fighters at Level 5 and above the possible loss of freedom of movement that comes from bulkier armors do not worth it for the slight defense bonus it provides compared to a smaller and more lightweight one.

Sadly, those armors cost a pretty penny, so I don't think I will be able to get one soon enough.

That leaves the third option, which is not available for other people. Territory shenanigans!

I remember the shield-like effect my Absolute Territory is capable of according to what I learned from interacting with my Falna, but I wasn't able to try it out because my stats weren't quite enough to form it reliably before. Hopefully, that will change today when I update my Falna.

With that thought, I finished up the last sandwich from the basket, so I put it next to the door and sat down on my bedding once more and started the process.

I drew some blood from the back of my hand then applied it to the Falna on my stomach. The process went the same as before, allowing me to see and manipulate my blessing through that bright ball that pops up every time.

Hm, it was about two days since I last updated my Falna, but I hoped that going into the dungeon would've provided a bigger jump than this. Eh, I'm getting greedy here, probably.

**Name: ****Avrora ****Lvl. 1**

**Strength: ****287→317 ****F**

**Endurance: ****88→97 ****I**

**Dexterity: ****120→143 ****H**

**Agility: ****279→312 ****F**

**Magic: ****368→478 ****E**

**Skills: ****Invictus**

Nonetheless, my Magic stat went up nicely, so I think I will be able to utilize that shield mode thing now.

I mucked around a bit more with my Falna, learning everything about the shield mode I could, which was not much sadly. It's not like there is a written manual in there about it, more like a sequence of images, feelings, and intentions that somehow describe how it should work.

I had a sneaking suspicion that this was something I had to puzzle out by meditating on it, so I did. In the end, I spent about two hours urging my subconscious to make some sense from that mess, but finally, I more or less succeeded.

In theory, this shield mode is very similar to the training method I devised where I set my Territory to counteract my every action, only the reverse. Of course, if it was that simple, then it wouldn't have taken me this long to make it work. Filtering out what needs to be repulsed and with how much force is much more taxing than a constant resistance field that only needs to act on me.

Thus I was able to activate my shield-mode, but that also came with the disadvantage of losing my wide area sense, since I have to concentrate my Territory to near skin level. Judging from the impressions I got from my Falna I should be able to combine shield mode with my wide area sense in time, but for the time being, it's not possible with my current proficiency.

I could only think of using my dagger to test if it even works as it should, since Biggy would be far too big for that purpose and I wouldn't want to lose an arm or something if anything goes wrong.

Activating my shield mode, I placed my unsheathed dagger close to my forearm. With one eye closed and a grimace on my face, I pushed down on my arm before I could change my mind. I intellectually knew that even if I actually plunged my dagger into my arm I would have five healing potions on hand to deal with the injury, but still, I was not used to this kind of thing. The most destructive self-mutilation I performed in my last life was picking at scabs before a wound fully healed.

Thankfully, I had no reason to fear, since the tip of my dagger abruptly stopped at about three centimeters above my uncovered skin. Even if my shield was currently on max output I expected it to have some give, but as soon as the dagger reached that one inch distance from my skin it just completely stopped. Seeing that, I escalated the force I stabbed with, but nothing I could produce with just my unassisted bodily strength could get through it at all. The feedback was strange too, since I sensed the act of me trying to stab myself via the shield itself, but I felt nothing from it with my left arm that was the target of the stabbing. Not even a slight pushing force was transferred through the shield itself.

I guess it should be obvious, since the operation of this shield is based on my Territory providing a counterforce to the incoming attack, without the need for actual counterbalance. Ordinary physical shields work by dissipating the incoming force to a much larger area and making it less destructive that way, but my Territory based shield can just exert force wherever it needs without the need to care about that pesky Newton's Third Law of Motion.

Even so, keeping up the shield at full power for the few minutes I used to test it already drained me quite a bit, so I powered it down for now. It seems that it's quite a costly feature, but it can block a good amount of damage for the price. Once I recovered my Mind enough, I need to test if I can adjust it so it only wards off a certain amount of damage. If I can do that, then I'll be able to set it up so I can raise my Endurance stat down in the dungeon without needing to worry about more serious injuries.

To recover faster I sprawled out on my bedding and relaxed as much as I could. As I lay there, a bunch of random and incoherent thoughts raced around in my head for a while, but before I knew it I fell asleep.


	9. Chapter 9

"Avrora-san, please wake up," an even-toned voice was trying to snatch me from the realm of Morpheus. Accompanying the voice were gentle nudges, hoping to achieve what simple words could not and wake me up.

I reflexively reached out to grab the thing that was nudging me, but when I finally identified the owner of the voice with my sleep-addled mind, I was able to jerk back my hand before it made contact. As opposed to before, the one who was trying to wake me up was not Syr, but Ryuu Lion. Still half asleep, I quickly sat up and crawled backward a bit to reach the wall and lean my back against it. Since the wall was almost next to my bedding the action thankfully didn't come across as me trying to get away from a horror movie monster.

Rubbing my eyes with the heel of my hands I slowly looked up to Ryuu to ask her reason for waking me up.

"What can I help you with, Ryuu-san? Also, I'm sorry for almost touching you," I added my apology to my question. Elves generally don't like to be touched by others, with the exception of people that earn their trust. Since we were barely introduced, I was most certainly not in that category for Ryuu. After asking my question I started looking around the room to orientate myself, which allowed me to see the already dark sky through the window. Apparently, it was well after the sun went down.

"There is no need to worry about it. Mama Mia sent me up to take a look since you haven't shown up to have dinner," she explained.

"I see. Sorry for inconveniencing you, I'll be right ther- ow", I cried out in pain when I tried to get up. It seems I haven't noticed it in my half asleep state, but now that I woke up entirely and tried to put my weight on my arm to get up a sudden blinding pain went through what felt like every single muscle and nerve in my hand. Thanks to that I fell back against the wall which also produced a few spots of pain throughout my body.

"Are you alright, Avrora-san?" Ryuu asked.

"I... I don't really know," blinking away the spots I started seeing due to the pain, I answered to the best of my knowledge, which covered right about nothing. I haven't experienced anything like this so far during my short stay in this world, so I was really unsure of what exactly was happening. In my last life, I had the habit of sometimes very much overdoing my exercises after a long break, which usually left me barely able to move for a while after. This feeling reminded me of those times, but during my preparation week I didn't hold back anything and I was always fine the next morning.

I tried moving both my hands and all my fingers and nearly every movement caused me to be aware of every sinew, tendon, and muscle that was used to perform the action thanks to the pain that ran through them.

"Please stop moving Avrora-san," she urged me to stay still, probably because she saw my jerky movements and my continuous wincing from pain. Since I already determined that I basically hurt all over I complied with the request. "Can you tell me the reason for the pain? Were you injured?" Ryuu asked me, trying to determine the situation.

"I haven't been injured. I haven't even overexerted myself yesterday, ah I mean today." Sleeping even a bit made me think it was already tomorrow. "Nothing like this happened even after much more tiring days. I was always fine the next morning," I said with my gaze locked on to my hands that were resting on my knees. My hands were in a half-open state, fingers slightly bent in the most relaxing position I could find. Even when I wasn't moving them at all they were slightly aching, as was my whole body, now that I was concentrating on it.

Not hearing Ryuu react to my answer I looked up and saw her with furrowed brows, deep in thought.

"Unfortunately, I'm not well versed in such matters, so I don't know what the problem could be. However, I will promptly ask Mama Mia for advice and be right back. Please try to avoid moving until I return," she said as she left the room with my empty food basket in tow.

After the door clicked shut I tried to think of a reason why my body could be a wreck right now. My first theory was that skipping a day of updating my Falna somehow caused it. I couldn't come up with anything that would explain it otherwise. The constant aching I couldn't help but focus on wasn't too conducive to logical thinking either.

After a few minutes, Ryuu came back, with the basket still in one of her arms for some reason. She closed the door after her and approached me on the other side of the room.

"According to Mia-san the most likely reason for your aches is because I woke you up when I shouldn't have. I'm very sorry for that," she bowed to me hoping for forgiveness.

"You don't need to apologize, Ryuu-san. You couldn't have known that this would happen," I reassured her that she wasn't to blame. "Can you tell me how waking up could cause my body to hurt this much?" I asked her to clarify what she meant by her previous statement.

"Mia-san said that when an adventurer experiences a rapid growth, it's important to get enough uninterrupted sleep so that the Blessing of a God can adapt the body for the increased power," she started explaining. "The process can be fairly uncomfortable, as I'm sure you can attest to, so it generally happens while the adventurer is asleep. However, if interrupted, it can be difficult to fall asleep again."

With that, she kneeled next to me and brought out the basket she brought with her. Now that it was closer I could see that it wasn't the same as the one she left with and this one contained a fairly sizable plate of food.

"Mama Mia told me that skipping meals in such a condition can be detrimental and that falling asleep on a full stomach would also be easier," she said as she proceeded to prepare the plate and utensils for eating. However, contrary to my expectations, she didn't hand over the knife and fork, rather she cut up the meat and greens to manageable sizes. If it had ended with that then it would've been only surprising, but when she used the fork to bring a bite of food next to my mouth I was stunned.

Is... is she really trying to feed me?

"Please open your mouth or I can't feed you," she said after seeing my disbelieving expression.

"You don't have to do that Ryuu-san. I'm sure I can handle it now that I only need to use the fork," I tried to dissuade her.

"Nonsense, this is the least I can do after waking you up when I shouldn't have," she persisted.

"Ryuu-san, I already told you that you couldn't have-," I protested, but the elf cut me off.

"Avrora. Just open your mouth and let me feed you," scary Ryuu-san said.

A little shocked by the persuasiveness of her voice and how she called me Avrora without an honorific at the end caused me to involuntarily open my mouth for a bit. Ryuu-san promptly capitalized on the chance to move the contents of the fork into my mouth. As a reflex, I started to chew, which seemed to have placated her for now.

What followed was an extremely embarrassing several minutes. I couldn't even hide my burning face since my whole body was out of commission, even the simple act of eating sometimes caused additional pain. All the while, Ryuu-san was just her dispassionate self. I can't even remember the last time I was fed by someone. It must've been firmly in the first few years of my life.

To divert my attention from Ryuu-san feeding me, I asked if a Healing Potion would be able to help, but she said that no potion or even healing magic would work on this particular kind of pain, since it's not due to an injury, but just a side effect of the Falna working to alter my body.

Fucking Falna. It can turn a person into a walking natural disaster, but it can't do its shit without causing a fuckton of pain as a side effect. I need to send a strongly worded letter of complaint to the ones responsible for this particular feature. Damn, the constant pulsing pain is really making me irritated. I need to finish eating and get Ryuu-san to leave me alone before I do something to worsen her most likely already low opinion of me.

Therefore I stopped multitasking with my mouth and concentrated on consuming the remaining food via Ryuu Express.

"Thank you for helping me, Ryuu-san," I said while bowing my head and trying to avoid jostling any part of my body.

"As I said, don't mind it," she said as she packed up the plate and utensils and stood up from the kneeling position she was in. "Please do your best to fall asleep now. I will leave now so I don't disturb you. Good night, Avrora-san."

With that, she left the room as soon as she heard my own good night. I wanted to say sorry for being the cause of an inconvenience like that, but I reflexively answered her words of good-bye. Argh, I wanted to be as inconspicuous as I could until I could gather up my courage and talk to Ryuu-san about my plan of rescuing Haruhime. Now this will make it a much harder prospect, since instead of a generally neutral existence, she will most likely think of me as a source of problems even before I present her with my unreasonable request.

Dammit, I can't do anything about that anymore, so I best try to fall asleep. However, it's easier said than done.

Aha! I just got a wonderful idea. If I'm able to induce a Mind Down, then I can quickly fall unconscious without too much hassle. Fan-fucking-tastic.

The two most Mind intensive moves I currently know are the shield and the flying. However, just hovering in place and putting up the shield without something to work against it would take too little Mind by themselves to be a fast enough method. Therefore I came up with another wonderful idea, which I promptly put into practice too.

I was hovering a few centimeters above my bedding with shield fully active, then I pulled Biggy from its place next to the wall and gave my shield a little slap with the flat of the blade. Even in my pain-addled mind, I wasn't stupid enough to try the same with the edge on. Thankfully the shield held without problems and after a few hits I already noticed the drain on my reserves. I was also thankful for the fact that the impact against my shield didn't cause any sound at all, so there was no chance I would be noticed because of it.

After about a minute I thought it best to lower myself back to the bedding so I wouldn't fall down if something unexpected were to happen.

As it turned out, it was a sound decision, since the next thing I knew I was already waking up, feeling much better. I first waited for a few seconds to make sure the pain wasn't missing only because I was only half awake, like last time. When slowly moving my finger didn't elicit any pain either I let out a sigh of relief. I had a few similar experiences with pain in my last life too, so I was inordinately pleased that I had a way to quickly knock myself out this time.

Suddenly, I caught a movement in my periphery which caused me to reflexively contract my Territory and form my shield. It activated so fast I was taken aback, but what really shocked me was the source of the movement I observed.

Ryuu Lion was sitting on one of the spare chairs stored in the room, apparently waiting for me to wake up.

"Good morning, Avrora-san. Are you feeling better?" she asked, not minding my shock over her presence.

It took me a few moments to gather myself and turn off my shield before I managed to answer.

"Good morning. Yes, the pain seems to be gone now."

"That's very good news," she nodded in acknowledgment before shifting into a much more serious, and somewhat scary, tone. "In that case, can you tell me why I've found the blade of your sword laying flat across your stomach when I came to check up on you later last night?"

Shit, shit, shit, shiiiiiit.

I guess an intentionally caused Mind Down state wasn't too suited to making smart decisions. I must've passed out before I could move Biggy away, which was an obvious flaw in the plan in retrospect. Still, I was lucky that Biggy didn't cause any injuries as I blacked out. I also didn't count on Ryuu-san checking on me again last night.

But, how can I answer her question? It's pretty clear that no-one else beside me could've left Biggy there, so I can't just deny it without her catching me in an obvious lie. So, I could say that I moved Biggy using my body, which would be an obvious bullshit, since even if I could bear the excruciating pain of it, Biggy was laying on me with the handle pointing away from my prone body, an exceedingly hard position to arrange by hand, not to mention entirely pointless. If I was hugging the handle like a pillow or a teddy bear, I could claim it was providing me with emotional support, but that's not a valid excuse without that either.

Well, I guess I should share a bit and try to build some trust now that it came to this. Even if I don't share the details of my Skill or Magic, the fact that I'm willing to talk about me even possessing it should mark a certain degree of trust towards her from my end.

In the meantime, Ryuu-san was patiently waiting for the few seconds while these thoughts rushed through my mind.

"Yesterday, I couldn't fall asleep and thought that my best chance to reach unconsciousness was to induce a Mind Down," I explained sheepishly to Ryuu-san. Her expression didn't really change from that, but I could somehow detect an undercurrent of 'you idiot' from how she was looking at me. Or it might've been just my imagination.

"I know it wasn't the best plan, but that was the only thing I could think of at the time," I tried to justify my actions. "So, I used some magic that caused my sword to end up in that position."

I started kneading my hands and averted my gaze from the elf sitting not far from me, fearing her judging stare.

"I see. It seems that you are aware of your folly, so I won't need to explain just how badly that could've ended," she said while giving me a pointed look, which made me feel like the child my outward appearance indicated I was.

"Ah, thank you for moving my sword for me," I thanked her before we drifted too far from the topic. She simply nodded in acknowledgment. Seeing her still in her waitress uniform I had another question I wanted to ask. "Ryuu-san, did you spend your night in this room? Wasn't it uncomfortable? Did you get any sleep?"

"Don't worry Avrora-san. I was able to get sufficient sleep," she assured me. "You seem to be feeling better, so I will take my leave now. Still, I suggest sleeping in a bit more, just to be sure. Goodbye for now, Avrora-san," she said as she left the room.

Shit, that was a stressful few minutes. I didn't think I would be directly talking with someone as important as her just yet.

Exhaling a big lungful of air I let the tension bleed out of me as I collapsed back down on my bedding. Just lying there, relaxing, I thought back to the pain I experienced yesterday.

I'm fairly sure nothing like that happened or was even mentioned in the original story, so I couldn't have prepared for it. If indeed that's what it was at all. Mama Mia could've been wrong, or lying for all I know, although I find that possibility remote. Maybe it was some kind of side effect of me gaining this new body. I can't say for certain until I know more. Hopefully, this was just a one-time thing and I'll never have to worry about it again.

Now that I think about it, I wouldn't expect that the Falna would need to modify the body itself, since the common understanding is that if you lose your Falna, then you go back to being a run of the mill mortal. Though, if you receive a Falna again, then the progress you made before won't disappear. My only theory is that the body needs to be modified so it can properly channel the power bestowed by the Falna. Another topic of research for the future.

I've not expected Ryuu-san to go out of her way to watch over me like that. Maybe I should've, judging from her personality that she showed in the stories I've read about her, but I still have trouble equating people that I encountered here to their fictional counterparts. That's partly a good thing since blindly believing that people would act the same way as in the stories could lead to me getting caught flat-footed very easily. On the other hand, constantly questioning my information source that already proved to be mostly accurate could lead to undesired hesitation on my part too. I guess I'll just have to see and decide for myself on what information to trust on a case by case basis. Hmm, the expression of 'Trust, but Verify' comes into mind, but I don't think this is the kind of situation it's usually used in. Nonetheless, it somewhat fits.

For the next good while, I just lazed around, doing stretches and such, and generally enjoyed the fresh morning air coming through the open window. Not long after I saw Ryuu-san getting back from her morning run.

She walked into the inner courtyard and continued with her exercises. She was wearing a simple white sleeveless shirt, short shorts and had a long wooden staff in her hand. The staff had the same weird shape I remembered from the manga and anime too. Nonetheless, these training clothes really made her look much more youthful than the maid uniform I saw her wearing until now. Her majestic flowing movements and beautiful visage as she practiced her moves made me unable to avert my eyes from her. Once again, I was reminded of just how well the Gale and Fairy nicknames fit her.

I was also floored from a professional standpoint too, since I could barely follow some of her movements and others not at all. It really makes me look forward to the time when I could at least come close to the skill she displays even in a light training such as this. Because, yeah, I can tell that those amazing moves I can't even follow are nothing but the tip of the iceberg for her. Simply awe-inspiring.

With great reluctance, I tore my gaze away from her before she noticed me up here and started getting ready for another day in the dungeon. I contemplated skipping today to make sure there were no lingering problems after last night, but after seeing that I can't help but be fired up.

After I packed up my gear, I decided to not spend my time eating the usual breakfast in my room, so I stored it away for later. With everything ready, I quickly made my way towards Babel. I arrived about an hour earlier than in the last two days, so there were much fewer adventurers around. This allowed me to quickly procure a Magic Potion to serve as a failsafe, since I will be experimenting with the shield mode and it's quite heavy on Mind usage. Although the potion cost an arm and a leg in the form of ten thousand valis, it could save me from having to sacrifice my actual arms and legs to the monsters, so it was still a good bargain.

With the newly acquired Magic Potion safely tucked away in the potion holder section of my amazing bag, I quickly marched towards the Second Floor.

Despite the early hours, the straight path that led to the entrance of the Second Floor was cleaned out from monsters as usual. I didn't mind this, since I don't like to fight when people can see me.

I finally arrived at the two rooms we set as my field base for today. Seeing one or two rooms already occupied on the way made me a bit worried, but thankfully the ones that mattered were empty, save for the usual monsters.

I wasn't comfortable enough using shield mode in battle yet, so my first two battles went much the same as before. Jump in, hack apart everything that moves using Biggy, profit. I could already tell the difference between the First and the Second Floor, since the first two rooms contained five and six monsters respectively. On the First Floor, this would most likely be four and five instead. These numbers would mean a hard fight for ordinary adventurers, at least for those that work solo. Not for me though, who has the Might of Biggy on her side. Big fat load of good would that do for me without my telekinesis though.

Nonetheless, walking back to the first room with my bottom line at eleven magic stones so far, I started brainstorming on how to best make use of this shield mode thing.

First, I tried activating it like yesterday, to familiarize myself with it more. For some reason, it took me much longer to activate than this morning when I just woke up. Hmm, the only probable reason for it that I can think of now would be how it was in reaction to Ryuu-san scaring me half to death. So its activation speed is probably connected to, or enhanced by, a strong flight or fight reflex.

With that in mind, I further experimented with it until the first spawn of the room happened. I don't know if it was in reaction to me experimenting with my magic or just the dungeon decided that 'fuck that adventurer in particular', but ten monsters simultaneously popping out of the walls was not what I expected.

It was obvious this wasn't an encounter I could just half-ass, so I took out my dagger to serve as my last defense and sent Biggy on the warpath. I would've loved to have the shield on too, but with those numbers, I've found the situational awareness provided by the larger Territory more important. Biggy worked fast as it did my bidding, but some of the monsters were smart enough to target me instead of throwing down with a block of steel. I made sure to discourage them with blasts of telekinetic force or Biggy when I could.

It's safe to say that this was the largest battle so far in my short history of fights, so I think I could be forgiven for the slight lapse that allowed the eleventh monster, a dungeon lizard, to get the drop on me. Literally, since it dropped down from the ceiling to my unprotected back and tackled me onto the ground with its weight that surpassed mine for sure.

The short disorientation this caused allowed the tailed asshole to bite at my lightly protected neck. Thankfully I always kept my hood and jacket collar up, so the wound only slightly fucking hurt instead of being all kinds of lethal. The pain also allowed me to regain my calm and get royally pissed. I didn't even have to urge my shield to activate, it leapt into action as soon as I thought about it. My next action was a backhand into the lizard's side that still loomed over me. I did not expect that hit to pulverize most of the reptile, but I sure didn't mind it.

I picked up the dagger I dropped when the drop-bear wannabe landed on me, but most of my attention already went back to my Territory, telling me about the state of the battle I was still in the middle of. The good news was there were only two enemies still alive, the bad was they were running at me, since Biggy went stationary when my attention was taken away.

My answer to this was to put my dagger in my left hand and pose my right arm like I was about to perform a one-handed diagonal slash, only with my hand open. The reason for that became apparent when the so far dormant Biggy closed the distance between its current position and mine, spinning on the way to bisect one of the oncoming goblins, then its handle landed in my open hand with an audible slap. The last goblin didn't even have time to wonder where the big lump of metal came from, since by that time I already executed that diagonal slash I was preparing for and freed it from its mortal coil.

Making sure with every sense I had available that I was in fact alone now, I stabbed Biggy into the ground and leaned on my knees to come down from the adrenalin high. I checked with one of my hands and sure enough, it was trembling like hell. It was really no wonder, since this was the closest I've come to death so far. I would like to keep it that way for a long time yet too.

I checked my neck too, to determine how deep those damn teeth went, but thankfully they didn't appear to be serious wounds. I probably don't need to waste a potion on them then. Meh, it's best to make sure. Also, I wanted to try out a potion and now I even have a good reason for it.

Thus, I took out one of the Healing Potions I bought in Babel and downed about half of it. Hmm, it tastes quite good, kind of syrupy, but doesn't stick to my teeth like that usually does. Touching the wounds I could actually feel the skin knitting back together, leaving no sign of it I could detect by touch alone. I will still check in a mirror when I can.

Putting the half used Health Potion back into its container I thought back to the battle I just went through.

In conclusion, I fucked up, but it's not the end of the world. So far, I only fought goblins and kobolds, and a maximum of eight at the same time, which only happened once. The rest of the time it was 4-6 in a group on average. The fights until now also didn't take sufficient advantage of the third dimension, so a ceiling drop maneuver was extremely effective, especially when I was focusing my attention on the largest group of monsters I've faced thus far. Not having to watch out for attacks from above made the tactic of using Biggy away from myself a viable solution, but with a larger group that just won't fly. My ability to pay attention to more than one thing is getting better, but in no way quick enough to keep up with the increasing number of monsters that could be coming after me in a single encounter.

Therefore I will need to change my style of fighting. This Floor and the next may still be fine with the same style, but after that, it will be nigh suicidal. It became painfully apparent that moving Biggy away from me leaves me open for attacks, especially from sneaky or fast enemies, as well as projectiles later on.

It seems getting the shield to work in a maintainable fashion may be even more pressing than I first thought.

It's fortunate that the backhand strike I gifted that damn lizard already showed me a possible way of moving forward. That reminds me, I need to gather the loot too. Extending my Territory I gathered up the magic stones, which by some miracle numbered eleven. I thought I at least destroyed the lizard's stone, but apparently not. That bodes well for my new fighting style too, if I can get it to work like I want.

For a simple backhand to pulverize the lizard, it would've had to contain a force other than my muscle strength, but I don't remember any intentionally added telekinetic force to my hit. The shield was active at the time, which could perhaps be responsible for the additional force. I was wondering about the possibility before, but it seems my theory was unintentionally validated.

That specific theory was about the possibility of using the counterforce of the shield to not just simply stop the incoming hit, but further oppose it with increased force. This way the automatic defense becomes an automatic counterattack. The only problem with this is the even higher Mind usage, since aside from the higher force exerted the process remains exactly the same.

The reason why this function was able to work in the lizard's case — even though it wasn't a hit I received, but one I dealt out — was because it's irrelevant which side initiated the move, the only important detail is the relative speed of the opposing objects. In other words, it doesn't matter if I get hit or I'm the one doing the hitting, it works the same.

The neat thing about this is that the part that actually comes into contact with enemies is not my fist itself, but the shield about an inch from my skin. As long as the counterforce exerted by the shield is enough to move the impacted object, be it via sending them flying or in a more gruesome way, my hand itself wouldn't actually come into contact with anything. So, until a certain level, I can hit things with impunity.

That actually has a drawback too, namely if I don't hit things using the strength of my body, then I wouldn't be raising my Strength stat in the meantime.

A possible solution to that may be to limit the maximum amount of counterforce exerted by the shield to a level where it can't eliminate the enemy by itself, only to soften it up for the following hit by my actual fists. This would work about the same as a flat damage bonus in games, I think.

I spent the next few minutes trying out what I thought up. First I tested things with a few stones and pebbles by throwing them up in the air and hitting them sideways on the way down. This allowed me to work out the first few kinks, but testing the flat damage bonus version needed a target I couldn't easily slap aside. The only larger object in the room was Biggy, but obviously, I couldn't use it to test something like this, so I just set the wall as my target since it obviously wouldn't move from my hit.

I made sure to not hit the wall with enough force to break my fingers, but still strong enough to feel it over the shield. My first test proved a little excessive despite my intentions, since I've made a half meter wide spiderweb indent in the wall. It seems the wall here was softer than I expected. Still, judging from the slight ache in my hand I was successful.

Next come the live tests.

Putting Biggy back on my back I wandered towards the other room. Before barging in I expanded my Territory to check its contents, then put Biggy down near the door, so it wouldn't be hindering my movements on my back. I could've used telekinesis to keep it around me somewhere as insurance, but I didn't want to divide my attention during my first fight with this new style.

Letting out a quiet sigh I contracted my Territory into my counterattack shield mode — I really need to think of a shorter name for it — and let the handle of Biggy go. As soon as I did I felt my mark on Biggy beginning to diminish. That's right, since my Territory was concentrated close to my skin, it can't maintain a connection with Biggy now. Well, it's not a huge problem since I won't be using Biggy for the fight anyway and if for some reason I would be in need of it, at the current rate of diminishing it should still have enough juice in it to call it to my hand if it's not too far.

Still remembering the approximate positions of the monsters in the room, I cracked my neck and took a running start into the room. The first kobold my fist hit didn't even notice me before it lost most of its left torso. When my shield and fist came into contact with its left shoulder blade together they were able to effectively pulverize its entire shoulder and send its left arm sailing off in an arc. The impact of the arm on the ground actually attracted the attention of the monsters that were similarly facing away from the door and only realized a fight has started after a few seconds.

I was more than fine with that, since that meant I had to fight fewer monsters at a time. Not like I was in much danger of being overwhelmed, since there were only seven monsters in the entire room, including the ceiling, I checked. It didn't take me long to clumsily punch and kick my way into victory from then on. Although I could tell I was less than a beginner in unarmed combat, my above 300 stats in Strength and Agility easily compensated for my lack of experience and skill. Only going by stats, I should already be prowling the Sixth Floor in theory, so the Second Floor shouldn't provide any difficulties if I don't let my guard down.

With the battle over, I decided to gather the magic stones by hand this time. As I was picking one up I noticed a few cuts on my right fist. Apparently, decapitating a kobold by punching it in the fang-filled mouth may cause some discomfort. Hmm, this gives me an idea.

To rate this fighting style from the perspective of stat growth, it's excellent. Unarmed combat itself lends itself well to growth in Strength, Dexterity, and Agility, but with the addition of my counterattack shield mode, fuck that's a long name, let's just call it Counter Shield. So, with the addition of my Counter Shield, my Mind stat would receive a workout too. That only leaves the Endurance stat.

I stated before that the best way to raise the Endurance stat is to get hit. This is not entirely correct, because the important part is not the event of getting hit, but receiving the actual injury. I think the reason why my Endurance stat went up this much even though today was the first time I actually got hit is that during my training I abused my muscles so much that it counted as a sufficient injury to my Falna, which made my Endurance stat rise.

However, according to my new idea, I could leverage the fact that an injury is an injury, no matter where it comes from. I could raise my Endurance stat along with the rest by hitting the monsters so hard that it leaves me somewhat injured, but still functioning.

Okay, this might not be might brightest idea yet, but it could work with heavy potion assistance and as a solo adventurer, I have to exploit every opening I can to raise as many stats as much as possible. I just have to find out if there is a limit for drinking Healing Potions.

If implemented, then this idea would turn my Counter Shield assisted unarmed style into a somewhat wilder version, focusing on fast, acrobatic movements dealing as much damage as possible in the shortest amount of time. Perhaps like a tornado sweeping over the battlefield would be an apt description for it. It would also serve as a great way to work out some stress.

But, would this way of fighting be sustainable? Judging from the remaining Mind I currently have, I would have to say so-so. If I keep to this two-room strategy for now, the few minutes downtime between fights and a longer break every two or three hours should prove sufficient to keep up this pace. I still have a Mind potion to get me out of unexpected situations, so it should be fine.

This latest possible addition to my new style is something I would have to think over when I'm more rational and not high on battle, so I collected Biggy and settled down to write down my notes and eat breakfast.

I used the rest of the day to get a feel for this new, for me, type of fighting. I have to say I quite came to like it. Cutting up things with Biggy felt a bit anticlimactic, compared to the much more visceral feeling of hitting and kicking apart monsters with my own limbs. I didn't think I would be the type to enjoy this, but I guess I was able to internalize the fact that these monsters are nothing but meat automatons for the dungeon to point at intruders.

Another unexpected gain from the change in style came in the form of additional magic stones, since apparently hitting monsters with enough force to blow apart is not actually enough to damage the magic stones inside them, only by directly hitting them with a weapon can you easily destroy them. That meant that for the first time, I haven't lost any magic stones to accidental breakage.

It's not all sunshine and roses however, since by fighting in close combat, and in such a gruesome way too, it's hard to avoid getting some of the monster blood spilled on me. But why is that a problem? Doesn't the blood evaporate when the magic stone is removed? Apparently not always and not entirely. For some reason the blood spilled on adventurers has a tendency to last much longer than when it's spilled on the dungeon floor. Ah, I remember Eina telling me something about this. Supposedly, blood stains like this only evaporate slowly in the course of a twenty-four hour period. Therefore, if someone gets covered in monster blood, it's standard to take a shower before leaving Babel. I guess this explains how Bell was able to get covered in minotaur blood and run all the way to the Guild Headquarters without it disappearing.

Thankfully, I brought a change of clothes with me, so no problem there.

Since the standard workday of eight hours already elapsed for today I checked all my gear and made my way to the surface. I came across a trio of monsters on the way, but I was able to dispatch them without even bringing out Biggy. Since I was already leaving I didn't need to limit my Mind usage, so I just immobilized them with my telekinesis and ripped the stone out of their chest without lifting a finger. Of course, I made sure no one was around and since it happened in a side corridor there was not much chance of anyone witnessing it anyway.

The rest of the way outside was peaceful as usual. I very much approve of this 'you don't talk to me, I don't talk to you' thing the adventurers got going on.

For some reason, the shower was free to use with nice separate closed off cubicles. My reluctance to be naked, or near naked, around other people was still the same and I would've also felt bad about seeing other women nude, especially since my preferences haven't changed from being turned into a girl. Well, it's not like it matters anyway.

All-in-all, it was a very nice shower and I think I will make use of it every day I visit the dungeon from now on.

Ah, the reason it's free must be because if it cost anything a bunch of miser adventurers could use that as an excuse for not showering. Even I wouldn't mind paying from my tax money to keep the service free if the alternative would be a bunch of smelly adventurers strolling around on the main streets. Not like I pay taxes like that, only the indirect way by them taking a cut of the profit from the magic stones and drop items I exchange.

Since it was only about three in the afternoon the streets were devoid of the large adventurer crowd, so I didn't need to watch out for blocking other people's way and could dawdle a bit. Until now I was always walking with a specific goal in mind and haven't had the chance to just loiter and take in the view. I have to say, the building fronts along the main streets of Orario were all very nicely decorated, especially the stores with larger Familias behind them. The Hephaestus Familia store, in particular, went above and beyond with the presentation of goods. The display windows were all depicting scenes that could've come from the pages of epics, like finding a treasure chest filled with valuables and a new sword, or a legendary smith bestowing the recipient with her best work. Of course, the silhouette of the legendary smith greatly resembled the god Hephaestus, since this shop belonged to her Familia. It was a very nicely thought out advertisement.

Even just meandering I finally reached the Guild building and went in to conduct my business.

This time there was a short line waiting in front of Eina, so I resolved myself to sit down and wait for as long as it took. This turned out to be not that long, since when Eina saw that I was waiting for her she called out to another Guild member who then took over her desk for the time being.

I followed her gesture and walked to the door leading to the private rooms. On the way, I noticed the adventurers in the line formerly in front of Eina were grumbling and were shooting glares at me. I guess Eina was already popular at fifteen years old. They also didn't seem to like the fact that a young man took over her desk, instead of another pretty receptionist. Tough luck, heh.

My report went much the same as yesterday. I told her how many monsters I killed, which was 284 today, cue gasp from Eina, which is what I thought, but apparently I'm successfully eroding her willingness to try to impose common sense when dealing with me, so the information barely fazed her. Of course, it wasn't that much more than yesterday, so I guess it's understandable. It would get old real fast if she kept expressing her disbelief every time I reported in. I, of course, didn't mention my close call with the lizard, since I already learned what I could from that encounter. All she would be able to say is the same thing I've already found out, mainly to watch out for enemies from above too.

"So, Avrora, do you think you can go down another level tomorrow?" she asked.

"Yes, I don't think it would be a problem."

"Excellent. Even so, be extra vigilant since going down another Floor is risky business until you get used to it, even when the type of monsters you encounter don't change," she stressed. "Also, I won't be working tomorrow, so you don't have to come all the way to Headquarters if you don't want to. You can exchange your drops in Babel itself if you wish."

"I understand. I might do that."

"As for the future, I think if you perform in the same manner on the Third Floor too, then you could move to the Fourth Floor the day after tomorrow. However, once there I would like you to spend at least three days before moving on. Because although the type of monsters doesn't change on the Fifth Floor, they become much more mobile across the floor, which can cause them to form larger groups sometimes," she explained her recommendation for the near future.

"I see. I'll be sure to keep it in mind," I acknowledged.

With our business concluded we said goodbye to each other and I wished her a day off for tomorrow.

Next on the agenda was to exchange my loot, which came to a nice and round 26,000 valis. Five hundred valis of that came from one of the two goblin fangs I picked up during the day, but even so, it was a lot of money. When I get back to the Hostess I will try to haggle up my rent, especially since I missed paying it yesterday.

Safely securing my money I walked back to my lodgings, this time without wasting too much of my time.

The pub was still in its cafe-mode, so everything was calm and peaceful. A sharp contrast to the more rowdy atmosphere it usually has in the late evenings. I saw Anya and Lunoire serving the tables and watching for new orders, but it seemed Mama Mia was not around at this time.

However, by pushing my Territory to its max range I was able to locate her in one of the ground level storage rooms, the food store one to be exact. Her large silhouette and the accompanying presence of the Falna is not easy to miss. Nowadays I could tell that each Falna differed somehow, but I can't reliably tell them apart or identify them yet. Another thing to look forward to.

Not wanting to stand around with a huge sword on my back and disturb the customers, I quickly went upstairs and put Biggy away before I went to seek out the proprietress to pay my debts.

I didn't want to be seen like I was trying to weasel out of paying my rent, anyone who knew Mama Mia knows how foolish that would be, so I decided to find her and pay up as soon as I got back from today's dungeon run.

"There you are, Avrora!" she called out to me as soon as she managed to catch a glimpse of me behind the crates she was currently carrying towards the pub's kitchen. "We didn't expect you to just straight up disappear as soon as you woke up after what happened yesterday. Where the hell have you been?" she asked with a scowl.

This question threw me a bit off balance since my carefully crafted probable dialogue tree was just uprooted and tossed into a wood chipper. So it was not a big surprise that in my hurry to produce a valid response I might've been less than eloquent.

"Uhm, dungeon?"

"What!" she boomed out, rattling the boxes she was carrying. "Syr said that you already registered with the Guild, but I heard nothing about going into the Dungeon already. Are you crazy, girl? Going into the Dungeon after what happened yesterday. You should've just taken the day off. When did you start going down there anyway?"

"The pain was already gone by the time I woke up, so I thought it was fine to keep to my routine," I tried to explain my reasoning to her, but since I left out the actual reasons I thought I would be fine it wasn't very persuasive. "And, today was my third day in the dungeon."

"Wait a minute. Third?" she sharply looked back at me, since as I was talking I fell a bit behind her pace. "Didn't you tell Syr that you registered that day when you spoke with her two days ago?"

"I didn't," I said, thinking back to the actual conversation. "She asked if I had any trouble registering at the Guild, to which I said no. I didn't say I registered that day," I said, trying to muster the most honest and innocent looking expression I could produce.

Sadly, Mama Mia wasn't the least bit receptive to my non-existent charms, so she just looked at me disapprovingly. She then just shook her head and resumed her trek towards the kitchen.

"You should've at least said something when you started Dungeon diving, so we could prepare a lunch box to bring with you."

"After the first day I packed a part of my breakfast, so I thought it was fine like that."

To that she just let out a huff and kept walking.

With a lull in the conversation identified, I tried to bring up my original objective.

"Mama Mia, I also wanted to apologize for not paying my rent yesterday," I said as I jogged forward a bit so she could see me bow. "I would like to pay for ten days in advance to avoid a repeat of this."

"Ten days? That should be more than you must've earned during these three days. Forget it, kid. Use that money to keep you safe in the dungeon instead. It's not the end of the world if you pay one or two days late sometimes," she dismissed my suggestion right away.

In the meantime, we reached the kitchen and Mama Mia deposited the boxes next to a kitchen counter. Now that her hands were free I could hand the money over.

"Okay, but I insist paying for five days in advance, just to be sure."

With that, I handed over 3,500 valis, the five-day advance and the two portion I owed for today and yesterday. I made sure to use my left hand since it didn't have the injuries my right one received. I needed to check if they would heal by tomorrow and didn't want to risk a Healing Potion getting stuffed down my throat if discovered.

"Well, if you really want to, then I'm not gonna stop you," she said as she pocketed the money, clearly not too happy about it.

"Thank you, Mama Mia."

Finishing our conversation I turned around and headed for the stairs, but Mama Mia's voice called out to me before I could slip away.

"Hey, Avrora. Try not to make that blasted elf worry this much in the future," she admonished.

"I'll try not to," I replied, not really understanding what she was saying. The elf could only be Ryuu-san, but yesterday was the first time we even exchanged words aside from the time we were introduced. I don't think she would mind anything happening to me more than to any other random child. Nonetheless, I gave Mama Mia a nod to signify my understanding and turned back to my walk towards my room with a renewed resolution of keeping out of Ryuu-san's way, unless I'm absolutely sure I can't rescue Haruhime without her help.

I was already in my room after getting my lunch basket when I realized that I failed to try and raise the amount of rent money I actually pay like I intended to. Well, going by Mama Mia's general attitude I find it unlikely that I would've succeeded, so it might've been for the best that I forgot this time.

As I see it, my best chance to successfully hide Haruhime away after kidnapping her lays with the Hostess of Fertility anyway, so if not before, then I will be able to pay more after that.

Heeding the call of my stomach, I opened the window, sat down on a stored chair next to it and started eating my lunch. The air was nice and fresh and the slight breeze that ruffled my emerald green hair felt just right. Closing my eyes I reveled in the feeling of resting my tired muscles after a good day of physical work. Since I worked in an office job before, this was a feeling I only experienced sparingly.

Watching the clouds slowly drift by, my thoughts kept wandering to my errant hope that I haven't had the courage to articulate yet. That one day, somehow, I would be able to find somewhere to belong in this terrible and yet beautiful world.


	10. Chapter 10

The longer I sat there, gazing out the window, the more I realized how fatigued I felt. Not exactly physically, although I was quite tired too, but mentally exhausted because of the fact that I barely slowed down since I arrived in this world. I constantly had my guard up and my mind churning out theories, possible plans and also trying to remember every tidbit of useful information I could recall about this world and its inhabitants.

I have to say I'm not cut out for this shit.

If I was still at home, this would be the time I would've said 'fuck everything' and sat down to watch a tv show or read some stories and allow my brain to just coast along on standby mode. Sadly, that's not something I can do here.

Head tilted back, eyes closed, I sat there wondering what to do. A few minutes later I opened my eyes to avoid falling asleep again, since I didn't need a repeat of yesterday. Finally, the slowly drifting clouds were the ones that gave me an idea for a little stress relief. Not the violent kind, but the relaxing type instead.

It felt like a chore to move, but the promise of higher quality relaxation proved enough of an incentive to get me moving. Walking to the middle of the free space in the room I consciously started relaxing my muscles one after the other. Shit, the last time I've done this must've been when I was still in high-school. When my entire body was relaxed I slowly marked my body just like I did every time I tested my ability to fly, yet this time the process felt a bit smoother than usual.

As I concentrated on my wholly relaxed and slowly lightening body, I knew this was an excellent idea. It's really amazing how liberating it feels to not be weighed down by the force of gravity. It's like I'm giving the middle finger to the entire planet and getting away with it. A slight chuckle escaped my lips from that mental image.

Following the example of the clouds outside, I slightly bounced my feet and started slowly drifting inside the airspace of the room. Who needs commercial space flight, I only needed to lose everything and be thrown into a fantasy world to experience zero gravity first hand.

It was a lot of fun standing on the ceiling and the walls, treating them as the floor, only with lesser gravity. I only needed to impose a small directional force on my entire body to achieve it. I wanted to compare swimming through the air to swimming in water, but sadly I never learned how to swim in my last life. Maybe I will have the opportunity in this one.

After about an hour of playing around with zero-gravity, I noticed that my Mind reserves barely went down, if at all. I smiled like a lunatic when I noticed this, since it meant I would be able to freely fly about much earlier than I expected. However, my smile turned brittle when I remembered that the main reason I wasn't flying everywhere wasn't because I couldn't, but because I would be ripped apart by various crazy deities on their quest to obtain me. The only way to avoid that would be to be strong enough to say no, or to hide my identity until I reached that point, which would be quite impossible if that turned out to be a long amount of time.

Still, the idea of a disguise itself might have some merit. I'm sure I can think of some way my Territory could prove useful in that regard too.

Hovering by the window I had a strong urge to just disregard caution and simply float through and fly a circle above the roofs. I wasn't stupid enough to actually do it though.

I finally landed after that very relaxing timeout and let the force of gravity affect me once again. It felt pretty weird after more than an hour of being weightless. Still, all good things have to end sometimes, so I dug out my dungeon clothes and set out to wash them. This was the first time I actually got blood on my clothes, so I would need to be thorough.

The washing soap worked strangely well on blood stains, so I quickly finished up my laundry, just in time to stumble across Syr and Ryuu-san on the way out. At first, I planned to just say hi and retreat expeditiously, but remembering Mama Mia's admonishment I felt it necessary to apologize to Ryuu-san.

"Avrora-chan! I heard you went into the dungeon today. You shouldn't be reckless like that, tsk tsk," Syr chided me, wagging her finger. "Making us worry like that, especially Ryuu. You should've seen her in the morning, how frantic-" "AVRora-san, I see that you were doing laundry. You should just leave it to us in the future," Ryuu-san took over the speaking role by temporarily robbing Syr of her ability to speak by covering her mouth.

"It's no problem Ryuu-san, I'd like to do my laundry myself if it's not a problem. I'm already imposing too much by living here, I don't want to be even more of a burden," I said as I watched Syr turning a few different shades before getting released by Ryuu. I've not expected this byplay, but it seems Syr is really one who the elf doesn't mind being in physical contact with. If I remember right, she is the only one besides one of her late Familia members.

"I also wanted to apologize for causing undue concern," I bowed my head a little.

Syr started nodding in agreement. "That's right-" "Since you are a paying customer it's expected of us to watch out for your well-being," she explained. I nodded to signal my understanding of her situation.

"Hey, Ryuu, why do you keep interrupting me?" Syr pouted in the meantime. The green haired elf successfully ignored her existence and proceeded to start with the pile of laundry she had with her.

"Then, Ryuu-san, Syr-san, I will get out of your way. Goodbye for now," I bowed then hurried out before the undergarments got their turn in the wash.

"Just call me Syr, Avrora-chan!" she shouted after me, but I was already far enough to pretend I didn't hear her, so I continued my escape.

In the course of setting out my clothes to dry, I debated whether I want to update my Falna today. In the end, I decided that if I want to find correlations between fighting styles and the rise in stats, then I really should keep to a routine and update it every day.

Shortly I got my new status.

**Name**: Avrora Lvl. 1

**Strength**: 317→333 F

**Endurance**: 97→125 G→H

**Dexterity**: 143→163 H

**Agility**: 312→330 F

**Magic**: 418→629 E→C

**Skills**: Invictus

Holy shit, Magic went through the stratosphere. I knew that I used much more magic today and I went straight to Mind Down yesterday night, but I didn't think it would go straight past Rank D and reach Rank C. In theory, one stat at Rank D is enough for an adventurer to be allowed to Level Up, so it's quite a big deal.

Endurance also jumped up a bit, probably because of that one bite I got and the somewhat self-destructive combat style I started today. The wounds on my right hand are still present and accounted for to vouch for that. Thankfully Syr and Ryuu-san didn't see them because my hand was hidden underneath my washed clothes. If it wasn't, I have a feeling only then would I have known the real meaning of a chewing out.

The rest of the afternoon and night went as usual, although I think my sleep was a bit more restful than normal. I'll have to schedule more therapeutic flights in the future.

The next morning, once I was sufficiently awake, I checked the cuts on my hand, but I've only found a few mostly healed lines in my skin. It's good to know that having a Falna meant having a kind of accelerated healing too.

Spurred on by that good news I got ready to depart within a few minutes and hit the road towards the dungeon.

I brought Biggy with me, but I think I will keep to my CQC style for now. If I keep relying on Biggy's weight and ability to one hit things I won't be able to learn to properly fight.

Today's target is the Third Floor, I'm curious if it's any different from the Second Floor.

* * *

As it turned out, no, the Third Floor was much the same as the second. I alternated between two rooms, just as before, but the considerable leap forward in my Magic stat allowed me to easily decimate each group that appeared, since I didn't need to conserve my Mind as much as yesterday. Suffice it to say, the other adventurers on the same Floor might've experienced a monster shortage today too.

I decided to listen to Eina and not make the trek to the Guild Headquarters today since it was her day off, so I just sold my loot in Babel's exchange. This netted me a good haul of 32,200 valis. Good thing I got so much, since I decided to purchase an armored glove to find out if my Endurance goes up even if my hands don't get injured at all.

I managed to locate the elevators leading up to the 4th to 8th floors with all the Hephaestus shops selling quality equipment. Stepping out of the elevator left me in front of shops that were very much like the one I looked over yesterday on my way to the Guild. Very ostentatious and obviously targeting adventurers who got money to burn. I couldn't even find any items below 30,000 valis at first glance.

Still, I diligently looked through every shop window, hoping to find what I was looking for. It took me too long to realize that an armored glove might not be sold by shops specializing in weapons, since it's obviously an armor item, even if I primarily think of it as a new weapon.

Meh, window shopping like that is also nice once in a while.

The 4th floor seemed to specialize in flashy weapons and armor, so I went up another level, hoping I will have more luck there. Eventually, I found a shop that seemed to have a range of cheaper and more expensive items. Thankfully the contents of the shelves seem to have been ordered by size, so I could quickly find a few pairs of gloves that would conceivably fit me. The ones that fit a pallum like me were located on the lowest shelves, so I was able to try on most of them, which let me narrow it down to three pairs. All of them were comfortable enough and within my price range, so in the end, it came down to which design I liked best.

Ultimately, I went with one that had a dark-colored leather part and finely crafted metal plates made out of some kind of dusky white metal. It also had uncovered fingertips, which I prefer since I like to keep my sense of touch unhindered. That's also the reason why I don't wear the gloves I appeared in on day one anymore. Other than being fingerless, it was also well armored on the forearm, the back of the hand, and the knuckles of course. All-in-all, it gives off a feeling of stability and power. I feel like I can trust it to both protect me and demolish my enemies.

I only had to fork out 25,000 valis for it. I have a slight suspicion that earning more than this costs in one day on the Third Floor goes against the norm somehow. Eh, my very existence goes against the norm, so fuck it.

I shouldn't keep dwelling on how abnormal my existence is, even in this fantasy world. I should just accept it and try to make the most of it. I mean, it's very obvious that my Falna is not the same that every other adventurer gets. Even disregarding its location on my skin, my speed of getting stronger is clearly well above the norm. Today was only my eleventh day in this world and fourth in the dungeon, and yet my stats probably already exceed a lot of adventurers that have been venturing down into the dungeon for months or even years. First I thought it was because it was the first few points that rise quickly, but I'm well over that phase by now.

I haven't thought about this too deeply until now, probably because in the story the MC had a similarly abnormal rate of growth, so I might've unconsciously counted that speed of improvement as normal.

Damn, I hope that doesn't mean it will go back to normal now that I realized this.

Nonetheless, what I need to take away from this is that my speed of growth is somehow accelerated and I can't even begin to guess the reason for that due to lack of evidence just yet. Maybe if I could interact with a Falna that is not mine, I might be able to find out more, but that's obviously not possible right now.

In the course of my pondering, I arrived in front of Babel. Now under the light of the sun, I inspected my latest purchase and I have to say I like it a lot. I feel like the fact that it looks cool shouldn't matter that much, since its most important role is to protect my hands, which is unrelated to its appearance, but I can't help but feel some childish glee from wearing it. Maybe this is how cosplayers and LARPers felt in my old world.

This thought, however, brought me back to my current reality. Cosplayers and LARPers didn't have to worry about actual monsters ripping their hands apart if they didn't wear something like this. I have to be vigilant. I have to be ready. I can't indulge my childish side like that.

Smothering my elation to an ember and wiping that most likely silly smile off my face I resumed my walk towards the Hostess of Fertility. However, a few steps later I stopped again, debating if I really wanted to go back just yet. It was nearing five in the evening, so it wouldn't be strange for me to show up there already, but for some reason, I had the urge to look around Orario for a bit. I furrowed my brow to this, because that didn't sound like me at all, but I gave in for now.

So instead of West Main, I aimed for North Main and started walking up on it towards the north gate of the city. The first thing I noticed is that there were much fewer shops on this street than on North-West Main, where the Guild is at, and they were mainly clothing shops.

Judging from the display windows, most of them were targeted at female customers. Various stylish dresses, casual wears, shoes, shirts, and skirts. Also handbags, jewelry, and other accessories, everything a fashion conscious person might need. For good or ill, I didn't belong in that category. I highly doubt I would ever find myself in a situation where I would be wearing something like these.

Remembering my intention to get something to serve as a disguise I wandered into a store that offered a more general selection for both sexes. I had to remind myself not to head towards the tallest male section on instinct, but I've found a few, as generic as possible, clothing items that might be able to hide my identity. The most important of those was a somewhat oversized cloak that could wrap me up from head to toe if I wanted. It also had a large hood too of course.

For my face, I wanted to get a full face mask, but this shop didn't sell any of those, so I settled for something like a bandana that could hide everything below the eyes. That would still leave my fairly distinctive green hair on display, but I also bought some hair ties to avoid that. It was interesting to note that the hair ties were the same elastic kinds as in my previous world. Perhaps creating elastic substances is something Alchemy is useful for here.

Although I gathered up everything I could think of, I still felt that this wouldn't be enough. Even if I hide my appearance perfectly, my height itself would be a huge giveaway. There aren't many adventurers with my stature, that's for sure.

I stood there in the shop between the rows of clothes for a while, holding the shopping basket with one hand and gripping the new cloak in the other.

Eh, fuck it, it's not like buying another set will bankrupt me and I need it to experiment. If all fails, I could use it as a tent in the future.

With that I visited the section I avoided going to when I entered the store and chose a similar disguise getup for someone more than twice my current height, so about the same I was in my last life. I hope I can wrangle something with my Territory so I can make use of it.

Everything I bought ended up costing me 2,500 valis, which was more than my last clothing purchase, but the tall male clothes I bought had much more material in them, so it was understandable.

On another note, I still managed to scare the cashier when I managed to put my shopping basket up to the counter by pushing it up from below with both my hands. Why is this counter even this tall? I know I'm short for even a pallum right now, but for the counter to be taller than me is a travesty, didn't they think about the ergonomic factors when building this? Probably not.

After I finished paying and being irked by pointless things I thanked the cashier and left the shop. It was late enough already so I set the Hostess of Fertility as my destination. The streets were fairly crowded, but I made it back to the pub in good time. Putting away my new purchases, I noticed that my personal belongings, which so far only meant Biggy and a bag that could contain all my other items, increased to a point where I had to allocate a place near my bedding to serve as storage.

I couldn't help but feel melancholic at that. Not long ago I arrived with nothing but the clothes on my back and some pocket money, but for the first time, I have more things than I could casually carry with me.

And I could only think of this as a harsh reminder of what I lost.

My own room, which I've spent more time in than any other one place.

My own bed which was a lot comfier than my current thin bedding.

My computer, which was getting on in years, but still working admirably.

All the objects I interacted with every day for many years. The place that I won't ever see again.

I won't be sitting in front of my computer, listening to music, watching a movie, or even doing work.

I gritted my teeth, trying desperately to avoid thinking more about that, because I knew what awaits me at the end of that line of thought. I tried, I tried, but this time I couldn't avoid it.

This simple moment where my possessions increased to a point where I couldn't casually carry them with me all the time marked the point where I couldn't think of this whole situation as a long vacation. I couldn't chalk it up to an extended holiday or a dream I've yet to awaken from. I couldn't hide from this new reality anymore. A reality in which I won't ever see my family ever again.

Kneeling beside the newly bought pile of clothes I clenched my fists hard enough to hear my new gauntlets creak. After that, the next sounds were from tears hitting the floor in front of my knees.

For the first time since I've arrived in this world, I reached the end of that line of thought, and for the first time since I've arrived in this world, I silently wept for a long time.

* * *

I didn't think that a new pile of clothes would end up as the straw that broke the camel's back. It seems I managed to last eleven days before I could begin to face this new world.

I still don't think I will be able to get over this fact for a long time, but I probably made a large step towards it today. Even if that step was crying my eyes out for two hours.

It's a good thing that I forgot to take a shower in Babel, since I can take one here and if someone asks about my red eyes I can say that some shampoo got into them. A perfect ruse.

I remembered that I forgot to bring my lunch to my room when I got back, but it's already quite late already, so I decided to eat it for breakfast tomorrow and pack breakfast away for lunch instead. I could eat it now, but that would mean not being able to eat down at the pub and that may bring further scrutiny on my head, which I would like to avoid, especially right now.

I took a shower, changed into clean clothes and went down to eat dinner and pay my rent. Today's dish was a nice pasta dish I already ate here once, but I couldn't remember the taste of for some reason. After eating it, I can safely say that it's my favorite so far.

Most of the time I went back to my room as soon as I finished, but this time I just sat there nursing my drink, which was some kind of fruity concoction. It was also quite good, not too sweet and not too watery.

Finally admitting to myself that I probably won't see my family again brought out a tiny side of me that requires human companionship. Humans are social creatures after all and someone that could go without any human contact for an extended amount of time without side effects is rare. Although ten days is not an overly long time and during that time I exchanged some words with my advisor and the staff here, not having access to the internet anymore might be making me a bit loopy. I feel a bit like I'm drowning in my own thoughts, to be honest.

To combat this I decided to not rush back to my room for a change and listen in some conversations that are conducted loud enough for me to hear. That should stave off the worst of it I think.

The first conversation I picked up was happening between six people at one of the tables, one god and five adventurers to be exact. Mortals can usually tell simply by sight if someone is a deity or not, but even without that, the way he felt to my Territory was very distinctive. It seems deities can disrupt my Territory close to them. It's nothing much, only a few centimeters around them, but I doubt I would be able to use my usual telekinesis within that region. That means I can't directly exert force on them. Also, not seeing any reaction from the god to my Territory, I can most likely conclude that deities also can't feel its presence. That's good to know.

Come to think of it, the strange feeling I get from someone with a Falna might be a similar disruption field, but not the total shutout like with Deities. I won't know until I test it, but I think there is a high chance that directly affecting adventurers might be much more costly than with simple objects or even monsters.

Back to their conversation, it wasn't hard to pick up what they were talking about since they loudly celebrating something and were not stingy with the details. Apparently, one of their members, a middle-aged looking warrior achieved a Rank Up to Level 2 not too long ago and he got his Alias from the Denatus today. They are most likely here to celebrate that tonight.

A level up is called a Rank Up for some reason and the Denatus is a gathering of gods where, among other things, Aliases are determined for adventurers that reached at least Level 2. This Alias may change with subsequent Rank Ups, but it usually doesn't.

"Hahaha, another drink for our Lost Colossus here!" one of them bellowed another order.

"Yes, yes, coming right up nyaa~," Anya recognized the request.

"Nooo~~," the pitiful whines of the god of their Familia could be heard in reaction to the use of the Alias.

Another facet of this Alias choosing event is that the names are determined by a majority vote and gods have a tendency to fuck with other gods if they can get away with it. Therefore they try to choose the most painful, chuuni sounding name they possibly can to harass the deity in question. The best part is that the adventurers themselves are usually proud of those names and frequently use them, causing their deity to squirm in pain every time.

According to my eavesdropping, they belong to a small familia called the Shara Familia. I can safely say that I never heard his name before, so I don't know what kind of god he is. Judging by how he is frolicking freely with his familia he doesn't seem that bad.

It's somewhat strange to see an adventurer who already has a few errant white hairs in his beard only reached Level 2. This really highlights the fact that the high-level adventurers are the absolute cream of the crop here and Level 5s and above can easily be considered modern day legends in their own right. The difference between Level 1 and Level 2 is so large that they refer to Level 1s as Low Class adventurers and everyone at least at Level 2 as High Class adventurers. I don't know the exact statistics, but I don't think more than ten percent of adventurers manage to level up in their entire career.

And here I am, abusing the clearly bullshit Falna I have to perhaps achieve the same in weeks.

Yet, I can't allow myself to be held back by that fact. I have to be prepared if I want to be able to contribute in the future. There is also the fact that I'm a damn wimp who wouldn't feel safe without overwhelming power on my side. This is not my old world and my old country where I didn't need to fear violent crimes or getting caught up in a fight between veritable demigods just by casually walking down the streets.

I need that power to feel safe in this blatantly unequal world.

Moving away from that line of thought, I continued on with my eavesdropping exercise. In the next half-an-hour, I managed to overhear about someone getting dumped, someone buying a new weapon, and a party managing to reach Rivira on the 18th Floor for the first time.

My social side satiated in this indirect manner I drank the few drops of juice I still had in my mug and retreated back to my room.

Glancing at the pile of clothes that unwittingly caused my emotional turmoil I remembered that I bought a disguise meant for someone much larger than me. I fished the clothes out and marveled at how gigantic they seemed compared to my current size. If I can wear it some way in a believable fashion, then no one should be able to connect little old pallum me to this clearly huge individual.

I marked the clothes as a start, but the most I could do was arrange them in the air in the same general position as when someone is wearing them. However, at this point, I could only impersonate someone named Mr. Noodle at most. If I squint just right it might look like a person from a few hundred meters, in a desert in the middle of a sandstorm. Or maybe not.

Hahh, I'll have to fiddle with this a lot until I can manage something presentable. At least I won't be bored in the afternoons in the coming days.

Almost forgot to update my Falna before going to bed, but remembered it at the last minute and noted down the specifics. My stats kept steadily increasing, no plateau in sight just yet. I'm not even gonna comment on my Magic stat at this point.

After a good night's sleep, the next morning I ate the leftovers from yesterday's lunch and packed away the breakfast to bring into the dungeon. Hmm, if I leave today's lunch for tomorrow too, then I can keep to the common timings of lunch and breakfast. The only downside is the fact that the sandwiches might get a bit stale by the time I eat them. Meh, I will figure it out. Yesterday's lunch I ate just now wasn't that bad.

Not giving more thought to the subject for now, I hurried towards the dungeon, eager to try my new pulverizer gauntlets. Although that's not its official name, I will be using it to pulverize many, many enemies, so I thought it fitting.

I set up camp on the Fourth Floor according to schedule and made extensive use of my new gauntlets. I have to say having armor made for fist fighting on hand, literally, made an amazing difference. Even with my shield to provide defense and additional damage on my hits many times my hands hurt like a bitch from hitting something too hard. Since that was somewhat intentional on my part before this it's not that surprising, but I can't believe how much better having these gauntlets feels on my hands. It's like they are covered in cotton candy.

With this, I will be able to compare yesterday's Endurance gain to today's and make a decision if it's worth abusing my hands to gain that much more. To that end, I'll have to keep up a similar rate of fighting as yesterday. With renewed determination and blissfully cushioned hands, I kept to my tactics of hitting things until they died.

* * *

I wanted to skip reporting to Eina today, but we haven't talked about if it's alright to do so yet. Therefore, even though I took a shower and exchanged my loot, which came to 32,900 valis, I directed my legs towards the Guild Headquarters.

Although I haven't spent as much time as yesterday down in the dungeon, with the somewhat increased spawn rate of going down another Floor I managed to keep the overall number of monsters killed to about the same as yesterday. That's a good thing, since the more similar the other parameters are, the more likely I will be able to tell what kind of relation is between the two I'm focusing on, namely Endurance rise and injuries sustained by going barehanded.

It's possible that what I'm trying to do with this whole thing is entirely useless, since I'm not a statistician or scientist, but there is a chance I can get some useful information out of it still.

Before I knew it I was already in front of the Guild building, so I simply entered by ducking under the saloon doors as usual. At first glance, I didn't see Eina at any of the reception desks, so I decided to look around the foyer a bit more in detail.

My first find was a quartet of fairly large boards, loaded with various paper sheets. After a bit more scrutiny I was able to decipher a good part of them, although not all. There were quite a lot of Quests, advertisements, and announcements made by the Guild filling the four boards.

If I remember right, Quests are mostly drop item or other resource fetch quests for below the 12th Floor. The reason for that is because any regular experienced Level 1 party of adventurers can handle anything above the Middle Floors, so anything that can be found above the 12th Floor is readily available to anyone who wants to obtain some. Starting from the 13th Floor the dungeon becomes much harsher all of a sudden, so the number of adventurers that dare to venture deeper fall off sharply. That means the resources that come from deeper than that are always in shortage and it becomes somewhat necessary to post quests to obtain them in a realistic time-frame. The Guild doesn't forbid direct sales and purchases of drop items, only the magic stones, so by not going through the Guild, both the buyer and the seller come out ahead.

In conclusion, it's better to sell in bulk to those that directly use the stuff, but for just a few items here and there it might be better to just dump it on the Guild, even if it means losing out on a few valis.

Other than Quests, there are also advertisements detailing the services they provide, their prices, and the location of their store or workshop. There are even timetables for coaches, caravans, and ships that regularly depart towards various places outside Orario. Many of the caravans and all ships actually depart from Melen, a fishing city three kilometers southwest from Orario.

The last category of papers on the boards is the announcements made by the Guild. These are mostly Rank Up notifications for individual adventurers, general timetables for bigger Familia expeditions and other generic announcements. I was even able to find the record of Loki Familia's latest expedition that started on the day I first went into the dungeon. Apparently, they are targeting the Monster Rex on the 27th Floor, Amphisbaena and then after a few days later they plan to bring down the next Monster Rex on the 37th Floor, Udaeus.

Well, shit. They plan to take out half, or even 3/4th if they come across the Goliath, of the so far discovered Monster Rexes in one go. Loki Familia is hardcore.

Having read most of the boards, I once more looked around for Eina, but she was still away apparently. It's possible she didn't come to work for whatever reason, but she's probably just talking with another adventurer she is in charge of. Not seeing much reason to remain in the foyer I made my way towards the library I wanted to visit for a while now, but never had the time or energy so far.

Before entering the aforementioned library I took a few curious steps forward in the corridor and extended my Territory to its maximum. With its reach of eleven meters, I was able to locate two rooms that had people in them and one of those people I successfully identified as Eina. The details I get when my Territory is fully extended is not that good, but I was able to make out her ears and fairly distinctive hairstyle. Across from her I could make out a short and burly shape that was most likely a dwarf.

Now that I managed to locate her I started wondering if this counts as violating her privacy or being creepy. I can't hear what they are talking about, so that's not a problem, but simply being able to tell that she is in there might be too much. Well, this place is only for official business so it might not be that big a deal here and I won't be doing the same for private residences without very good reasons, so I might be able to avoid the title of creepy ass voyeur.

Now that I know she is present in the building I can wait in the library until she becomes free.

My first order of business was to get my bearings and that meant digging out the maps. It's not like I'm a geography enthusiast or anything but the original story was painfully scarce on such details. There wasn't even an official map for the continent Orario is on, since most of the story happened in, near, or underneath Orario there was no need to create an actual map for it.

Browsing for half an hour left me somewhat dissatisfied, since many of the maps tend to contradict each other and it's obvious the scales are all kinds of fucked up on some of them. For someone used to Google Maps, it's quite a bit of a step back. Meh, at least I can now see what is where in relation to each other.

For example, Orario is surrounded by the ocean on one side, fertile fields and a few lakes on the other, but there are also two large mountain ranges to the north and east of it. Beol Mountains to the north, where many monsters live, and Alv Mountains to the east, which is considered sacred.

I tried to look for a world map, but I haven't found any. Judging by the apparent size of the continent it would be much, much, much smaller than my old world if this was all it was. I can maybe compare it to Australia in size, if that, although with much better climate. Since the southernmost areas are described having a very hot climate and the northernmost areas have harsh winters it stands to reason that the entire continent is situated on the northern hemisphere of the planet, not even reaching the equator most likely.

If I take into account the nature of the original story which focuses on the dungeon and its immediate vicinity it would be unnecessary work to create an entire planet with a similar amount of dry land as Earth to serve as the setting for the story. It's entirely possible that this continent is the only occupied dry land on the planet, or perhaps there exist other continents, but are inaccessible right now, possibly because of the monsters even.

Letting out a sigh I started putting away the books and the few scrolls I brought to the table I seized. Since the grand total of people currently in the library aside for me numbered zero, I was able to use my telekinesis to put away the books on the sly to shelves I couldn't reach otherwise.

With everything ready, I walked out of the library and once again tried my luck at catching Eina with some free time.

I did not need to wait for long since as soon as I emerged from the side corridor Eina saw me and left her desk to confer with me. We greeted each other and retreated into one of the free rooms as usual.

"Since you came from this direction can I assume that you were in the library until now?" Eina asked.

"Yes. When I first arrived Eina-san wasn't at any of the desks, so I thought I would visit the library in the meantime," I explained.

"It's very good to see you take advantage of the library. I wish other adventurers would do the same sometimes," she lamented. "Can I ask what topic did you want to read up on? Maybe I can recommend some books if I'm familiar with it."

Eina was trying to be helpful as always. I really admire her enthusiasm and drive, they make her an excellent advisor. I honestly don't think I could bear to do a job like hers. Trying to teach adventurers to not be stupid and sending them into mortal peril where many don't come back from. The anxiety and doubt of whether I could've done something to prevent someone from dying would eat me alive in short order.

"I was only familiarizing myself with the library today. That, and I looked at some maps of the continent I could find," I replied.

"Ah, yes. Some of the maps are, shall we say, less than accurate in some of the books. Hm, I think these books should have the most accurate ones we have here," she said while she wrote down the titles of three books.

"Here you go," she said as she handed over the paper.

"Thank you."

With the preamble out of the way, I made my report on my last two days, which were nothing out of the ordinary, and showed off my new gauntlets, which surprised Eina a bit.

"They look like very good quality gauntlets. Where did you buy them?" she inquired.

"Fifth floor of Babel. There was a Hephaestus shop with a wide range of items and I've found these there. They are very comfortable," I said as I gestured with my arms and rolled my wrists to show the excellent freedom of movement they provide. She seemed suitably impressed by them.

When I was done showing off my new equipment I switched topics.

"Eina-san, would it be alright if I didn't come here every day to report? Maybe every few days or when I have something important to say," I asked, already half wincing from the possible vehement denial I expected to receive. Yet, the probable reaction didn't come to pass, so I raised my gaze from the floor to see her reaction.

The only thing I could discern was that Eina was very much still wrestling with the decision.

"Fine, but make sure to check in every time before going down a level, got it?" she relented finally. I could tell she wasn't too happy about it, but she recognized my basic ability to watch out for myself based on my reports and the other interactions we had until now. However, it doesn't mean she is happy about letting a not yet eleven years old girl, however methodical she acts in general, into the dungeon without constant oversight. Based on that, her next words shouldn't have come as a surprise, but for me they did.

"Avrora, I very much recommend finding yourself a Party. I understand that you are in a somewhat delicate situation because of... you know what," she gestured to the Falna on my stomach, "but I honestly think having a competent and trustworthy Party on your side would be good for you, not to mention much safer."

My reaction to that was a grimace and my gaze anywhere but on Eina. I understand her reasoning and I even agree with it, but I really didn't want to group up with strangers.

My aversion to strangers is not a newfound habit of mine, it's something I had in various degrees throughout my life. The way I worked around this trait of mine was usually by getting to know others through proxies I was already familiar with. However, after finishing college the distance between my few friends and I grew to a point where we barely interacted with each other, so the only meaningful social interaction I got was my family and sometimes work. That's one of the reasons why getting separated from them hit me hard yesterday.

Sometimes I even wonder why I'm not an emotional wreck crying on the floor of my room at any given time, but since I don't want to actually fall to that state I violently shove any thoughts concerning that out of my head for now. Maybe this is what they call compartmentalizing. Or maybe repression. Well, it doesn't matter as long as it lets me function as a human being.

So, in conclusion, I don't want to party up with people who are complete strangers to me right now. One could also argue that every single person in this world is a stranger to me, which would be technically true. Yet, there are people in this world that, although don't know me at all, I can say I have a passing familiarity with, which is greatly different from being complete strangers.

"I can ask around and write up a list of Parties who would not pry too much into your situation if you want," Eina tried to persuade me further once she didn't receive an immediate response.

However, I just can't do as she says just yet. Maybe more near-death experiences will be enough to change my tune on this, but for now, I just can't.

"Sorry Eina-san, but I don't want to join a Party yet," I said while slowly shaking my head.

"Haah. I see. I don't agree with your decision, but I can only give advice. It's your choice to follow it or not," she said, not looking or sounding too thrilled. I felt like shit, not following her advice on this, especially since it's obviously right, but I simply can't imagine myself trusting my back to complete strangers.

The rest of the consultation went by in decidedly more somber note, at least on my part. Eina was too professional to be depressed just because I didn't heed an advice of hers. In the end, it didn't take much longer to wrap up the meeting, so we said goodbye and I quickly made my way back to the Hostess.

The first thing I did after getting back to my room was updating my Falna to finally determine if trashing my hands would actually be worth it. The grand result turned out to be a big fat 'inconclusive'. Honestly, even if it turned out that this method would provide a few more Endurance points, I don't think I would go back to wrecking my hands after experiencing how cozy my new gauntlets feel on my arms. I don't even know why, but they feel so soothing I'm tempted to call them the Gauntlets of Comfiness +1.

The rest of the evening went by quickly with the usual stuff and I went to sleep right on schedule. It took me a while to actually fall asleep, because of the usual chaotic mess of thoughts whizzing around in my head, but with the help of a few meditation exercises, I managed to finally doze off.


	11. Chapter 11

On my way to the dungeon, I realized that today was the sixth day since I started dungeon diving. That number felt both a lot and not that many at the same time.

A lot of memorable things happened in these stress-filled five days, but what's scary is that the whole 'going down into the dungeon and murdering its inhabitants' shtick is already starting to feel like a routine. And that is a dangerous mindset to have.

Right now my stats are obviously far above the floor average, but not enough to just casually brush off all dangers that the dungeon can throw at me, even disregarding highly irregular events like a minotaur showing up on the Fifth Floor out of nowhere. So, the more I allow myself to sink into a routine and let my guard down, the higher the chance of me biting the dust from a moment of inattention.

I know that thanks to my Shield there is very little chance of any of the monsters below the Sixth Floor managing to hurt me, but that's only valid during encounters. I still can't maintain my Shield non-stop, since it would be too draining, even with my absurdly high growth in Magic stat. That means I have to avoid a repeat of the drop-bear wannabe lizard incident.

One possible solution to that I'm working on is to train my Territory to pick up the presence of magic stones, much like I can clearly feel the presence of a Falna in any adventurer in my range. But why is that even needed, one might ask. That's because my Territory does not automatically identify everything it encompasses. The closest analogy I can come up with is a textureless wireframe model. Even if it's a high resolution one, you can't always identify the object it's meant to represent without a bit of pondering, and in battle that's a possible fatal flaw.

That being said, it's not quite that bad, since if an enemy is not stationary, then it's a huge red flag for my brain to identify it as a mobile entity, which would most likely be a monster down in the dungeon. It's kinda like that scene from Jurassic Park, the 'its vision is based on movement' one. That's why the lizard could get the literal drop on me, it was very much motionless until it jumped.

Another advantage of developing that magic stone sense would be the ability to directly grasp and tear them out of the monster's body. It's a very similar process to how I get the stones out of monster corpses, but the methodology is different. With corpses, I permeate part of the body to actively search for the stone, while doing my best to ignore everything else my Territory detects, but this new detection method I'm trying to create is more of a passive sensor type. Like a radiation detector, only for magic stones.

It would certainly be a useful sense to have, so I hope I will be able to develop it soon.

Today's target is the Fourth Floor once again, only now I have no obligation to keep down the number of monsters hunted like yesterday. With that in mind, should I try to hunt as many as I can, or take it easy instead?

Hm, since today is the sixth day in the dungeon for me, I think I should take tomorrow off. That means I can let a bit loose, since I can just sleep it off the next day.

I usually managed to avoid most of the adventurers, but today I entered the dungeon behind a four-man party. At first, there was nothing notable about the situation, but as I kept following them down on the shortest routes between Floors, they kept running across small groups of one to four monsters they had to dispatch to continue. Since there was no reason for me to intervene I just let them kill off the monsters and followed after them when they were finished.

After a few encounters like this, some of them started to give me the stink-eye and mumble amongst each other, but didn't do anything else. I contemplated just stopping for a bit and letting them go ahead if they are so pissed off about me following in their wake, but before I had the chance a group of six kobolds came out of a side tunnel. Trying to pick off the straggler, they decided that attacking me was in their best interest.

I claimed otherwise by grabbing Biggy and jumping in the middle of them before they could scatter to try and surround me. The follow-up slash easily cleaved apart four of them before any of them could take a bite at me. That left two kobolds on either side of me, which I remedied by passing off Biggy into my off-hand and quickly grabbing one of them by its hind leg too fast for it to react and swinging its entire body into the other kobold. Finally, I finished them off by driving Biggy through both of them as they lay on the floor stunned.

With the short distraction over, I glanced up to see if the other party already went ahead or not, but it seemed they stopped to see how I fared. I would be lying if their wide-eyed and slack-jawed expression wasn't a bit satisfying. I might've smirked at them from under my hood just a little.

I'm usually not someone to show off like that, but the few words I overheard from them clearly showed their disdain for Supporters and pallums alike, so I might've added some flourish to my takedowns because of that. I became a pallum only recently and I'm not even a Supporter, but shit like that pisses me off. These assholes are part of the reason why Lily had such a hard time all her life. Hopefully, they will think twice in the future before automatically categorizing every pallum as a Supporter and someone obviously weaker than them. Honestly, even with Biggy on my back, they couldn't fathom me being a combat-oriented adventurer. They must've thought I was holding onto it for someone else and couldn't use it. Well, surprise motherfuckers, I can!

But enough of this topic, I should gather up the stones that dropped.

Only when I finished picking up the stones did the four-man party snap out of their stupor. As I took a few steps in their direction they quickly set off towards the next floor in a distinct hurry. That was a bit strange, I thought my display would just surprise them and show them that appearance is not everything, but I didn't think it would actually intimidate them. When they broke off to remain on the Third Floor it answered my question somewhat. For a party still on the Third Floor that might've been a bit daunting display.

Putting them out of my mind for now, I continued on to the Fourth Floor without any more distractions.

So, to reiterate, the goal today is to let loose a bit. Until now I pretty much just sat in a room, waiting for mobs to spawn, or kept moving between two rooms and did the same. Today, I will try to move throughout the Floor as much as I can. It's also to find as many monsters as possible and to practice fighting near other adventurers without giving away most of my abilities. I need to get accustomed to fighting while on the move too. It will be good for my Agility stat too.

Taking out the map of this Floor I bought, I plotted a course for my roaming, trying to maximize the number of rooms covered without too much overlap. Once satisfied with the starting route I checked my gear and potions once more and set off jogging into a side tunnel.

* * *

Running around all day was both exhilarating and exhausting. I sweated so much I had to do a quick back and forth between the surface to get more water to drink. So far my workouts all focused on weight lifting without any cardio, mainly because I simply did not have the room for something like that. The dungeon is spacious enough, but first I had to get used to it enough so I wouldn't fall victim to everyday things.

I still couldn't keep up running all day, even with my fairly high stats, but I felt the sharp contrast between my current and previous physical abilities. The 'running' I was doing in old life can't even be compared to what I was capable of doing now. It felt awesome getting into the flow of things, like leaping over obstacles and bouncing around corners, barely slowing down at all.

Of course, I had to take a break sometimes to rest, drink and sometimes eat, but the occasional endorphin rush kept me in high spirits the whole day.

I kept Biggy on my back, but I had to adjust it many times with telekinesis to not get in the way, so perhaps I will leave it at home next time I'm planning another day similar to this. I know I should have it on hand if I'm venturing deeper than before, but when it's a repeat of a Floor it should be fine to leave it back in my room.

On the topic of monsters, it was a wholly average day today, nothing that would warrant a mention. I think I got a good amount of them, even though I had to slow down quite a few times when other adventurers were nearby to not stand out too much.

I managed to clock in more than ten hours today, so it was perhaps understandable, but the 52,250 valis I got in exchange for today's magic stones was more than I expected.

The price for that was getting dead tired by the end. At least I won't have to expend too much effort getting to sleep tonight.

With not having to meet Eina today I had nothing else planned, so I just went back to the Hostess of Fertility after taking a shower in Babel and done the minimum things in order to get to bed as soon as possible. From the time my head hit the pillow I don't think even half a minute passed until I was sound asleep.

* * *

It seems simply deciding to take today off was enough for my body to not wake up to the morning bells, since when I first came to was already well into the morning. Not gonna lie, sleeping in after such an exhausting day felt very pleasant. I didn't even get up right after waking up, instead, I lazed around for another half an hour, enjoying not having to hurry to the dungeon.

But all good things have to come to an end, so I finally extracted myself from my bed and done my usual morning routine.

When I finished I just gravitated towards my usual spot next to the window in my room, so I set up my usual pondering station there and gazed out of the open window. At first the courtyard was empty, but then I saw Mama Mia exiting the building right across from me in the company of another dwarf. The other party was a male dwarf whose appearance suggested he was a craftsman, most likely specializing in buildings, judging from the fact that they seemed to be talking about the building and kept gesturing towards it, apparently trying to come to a common understanding. Not long after they seemed to have come to an agreement, since they shook hands and the dwarf left through one of the side gates.

I leaned back a bit from the window to stave off the slight chance of her calling out to me if our eyes met as she walked back to the pub, but it seemed I didn't need to worry.

"Ryuu! Is that damn black cat back yet? She should've been back half-an-hour ago at the latest," Mama Mia asked right under my window.

"Not yet, Mama Mia," the elf answered the owner's question.

"I'm gonna whoop her ass when she gets back. Then I guess you'll have to pack away everything by yourself from the carriage once it arrives," she said, sounding very disgruntled.

"I understand, Mama Mia," Ryuu-san dutifully answered, not sounding that aggrieved for someone that got saddled with another person's work. Although for a high-level adventurer the physical effort needed to do the work is negligible, the tedium of having to do double the usual amount of round trips does not diminish.

After that short exchange, I heard Mama Mia going inside the pub, grumbling all the way about good for nothing employees and stupid cats. Not thirty seconds after a carriage pulled into the courtyard carrying quite a number of crates, barrels, and large baskets. It must be the day they restock the pantry for the week.

After nodding to each other Ryuu-san started to take the goods off the carriage, but once the driver saw she was doing it alone he started helping out with it. It might've been because he was a nice guy like that, but to me, it seemed like he just had somewhere to be soon, so he couldn't wait until Ryuu-san finished by herself.

It didn't take long for all the goods to end up on the ground, after which the driver of the carriage didn't waste time and departed with great haste. He was probably behind schedule already.

Watching Ryuu-san pick up a barrel that probably weighed more than her and walk out of my field of view I got the feeling that I should help her bring the goods to the storeroom. The battle between my instinct to avoid social interaction and my impulse to try and help out went on until Ryuu-san returned for the next batch. With my impulse triumphing, I jumped out of the window. Slowing my descent enough for a gentle touchdown I walked near Ryuu-san as she was stacking some crates to carry at once.

"Good morning, Ryuu-san," I greeted.

"Ah, good morning Avrora-san. What can I help you with?" she inquired after turning to face me after picking up the stack of three crates.

"I was just wondering if it would be alright for me to help with moving those," I gestured to the large assortment of goods behind her.

"There is no need, Avrora-san. You are a guest here, so you don't have to bother with things like this," she refused politely. I don't know if she did that because of cultural norms, since it's generally the polite thing to do in japanese culture to first refuse an offer of assistance, then only accept it after the other party insists on it once again, but with that possibility in mind, I tried to give more reasons.

"I accidentally overheard Mama Mia saying that Chloe-san didn't make it back in time to help, and I was already looking for something to spend my time with, so I would be happy to help out instead."

She appeared to think about my offer for a few seconds, but finally, she gave her response.

"In that case, I would thank you for your assistance," she replied, accompanied by a slight nod. "Judging by the weight of the sword you are usually carrying, none but perhaps the heaviest barrels should prove too much for you. Nonetheless, please proceed with caution."

"I'll be sure to be careful," I eagerly nodded. "Time to make myself useful," I said as I walked to one of the smaller boxes I could pick up with my small body. On the way there I recited the fake two words activation phrase for my Ether Hands magic and proceeded to mark a few from the rest of the crates and boxes.

I, of course, made sure that nobody else was present to witness this, both via my Territory and with my own eyes. Honestly, this was an entirely unnecessary thing to do, but I couldn't help but want to do this. Since I arrived here, shit, exactly two weeks ago, the single being who knows more about me than my name and a bit of my made-up circumstances is Eina, my advisor, who has to know things about me to correctly do her job.

And it scares me because if I die one of these days in the dungeon, as so many adventurers do, all my disappearance would cause would be a few sighs and sentences to the effect of 'that's a shame'. There is a conflict between my desire to not be forgotten, even if I died, and my wish to not be a cause of inconvenience in case I do. In this particular case, my desire for someone to know more about me won out. And as the sole surviving member of the Familia of the Goddess of Justice, there is no one I trust more than Ryuu-san to entrust a bit more of myself to.

As I picked up the smaller box and turned to look at Ryuu-san I levitated the six other crates and boxes behind me. I think I saw a slight surprise on her face, but she schooled her features so fast I thought I might've imagined it. As expected of a high-level adventurer. There are few things that would manage to faze her.

"That will certainly make this faster," she said with a small upturn of the corner of her mouth.

With her leading the way I followed with the goods floating behind me. If my guess was right, we were going towards the storeroom where Mama Mia was coming from the other day, so that means we will pass through in front of the large doorway that connects the corridor and the inside of the pub. Fortunately, there is enough space between the top of the doorframe and the ceiling to hide the floating stuff from the sight of other people. Just because I let Ryuu-san see my telekinesis in action, and I'm prepared for it to be seen by other Hostess of Fertility employees in case we run into them, I don't want any customers to see it too.

We passed in front of the doorway without much fanfare, although, strictly speaking, what I did was more akin to tottering because of the, to me, large box in my arms. Even if I could theoretically lift much heavier weights, the size itself interfered with my ability to walk properly.

However, what caused me to almost stumble was the sudden exclamations and 'kyaa, soo cute!' shouts of some of the customers. Since I was already out of sight from the interior of the pub I couldn't look to see where those cries originated from, but according to my Territory, the most likely suspects were a table worth of young ladies. The customers were fairly sedate in the daytime cafe mode from what I remember from my first week, so this behavior caught me by surprise.

A few moments later we entered the storeroom and Ryuu-san pointed out the places I needed to put the various goods down. Once everything was in its place we went for the next batch. For some reason there were other, this time a bit quieter, but still recognizable cooing sounds coming from the same table I identified before as we walked through in front of the doorway.

For the second round I made sure to choose only objects which could be hidden from view in the same manner, so Ryuu-san picked up a barrel that did not meet that criteria.

"That is a useful magic to have," commented Ryuu-san. "It might be rude to ask, but I was wondering if you would tell me about your experiences in the Dungeon thus far. I might not look like it, but I used to be an adventurer too, so I might have some insights."

"Thank you, Ryuu-san," I thanked her with a smile.

I spent the next few rounds recounting my experiences in this world, greatly edited of course. I told her about how my advisor is young but very professional and knows what she's doing, how I was using 'Ether Hands' in the beginning and how I transitioned to hand-to-hand lately. I explained my ability to punch harder by overlapping my ethereal hands with my real ones. I recounted my progression in the dungeon so far and told her about the warnings Eina gave me about each floor. Ryuu-san dutifully listened to me describing my journey thus far, which meant that she didn't say another word until we almost finished packing away everything.

On the last round, there was only one barrel left which wasn't small enough to be hidden by me, so Ryuu-san picked it up and I simply walked behind her on the last visit to the storeroom. By this time I was finished with my tale, so I was awaiting judgement. After a long few moments of just following Ryuu-san in silence, she finally spoke.

"It sounds like Avrora-san has a competent advisor. For someone just starting out in the Dungeon, you are remarkably well prepared. So much so, that I can't really add anything to what she said regarding the Dungeon itself," she started out. "But there is something you should keep in mind."

At that point, she stopped and turned to look me in the eyes. Her whole demeanor screamed that the following advice is something she felt strongly about and is something I should very much heed.

"Remember that even down in the Dungeon the monsters might not be your only enemies."

There was weight behind her words. Weight that hinted at her personal experiences with such people. As someone that knows of her history with Evilus I understand her intent to warn me as soon as possible. Even if Evilus was destroyed as far as she knows, adventurers with malicious intentions remain just the same.

"Do you mean other adventurers?" I asked to move forward the conversation.

"Yes, exactly," she replied as she resumed walking. "I approve of your idea of having that large sword with you, because even if it was not one of your reasons to use it, it should ward off some of the thugs that would otherwise have no problem targeting someone so young and frail-looking."

She paused for a bit, but she then continued when it was clear I wouldn't interject.

"If such a thing were to happen, I want you to not hesitate and deal with them by any means necessary."

I intellectually knew already what Ryuu-san was trying to say, but the topic itself was not something I've thought about in detail just yet. I'm glad I've talked to her about it now, since it could've been bad to encounter a situation like that with only my out of place moralities to lean on. I need to think about this topic more if I don't want to be paralyzed by indecision at an inopportune moment in the future.

"Thank you, Ryuu-san. I will do my best to heed your advice," I said in a determined tone.

That was when several high-pitched sounds assaulted us from the direction of the cafe.

"Awww, her determined expression is so cute!"

"Ryuu-san, is she your relative? The color of your hair is so similar."

"Or maybe a hidden love child? Kyaa, so romantic."

"She's so cute following Ryuu-san like a duckling following her mom!"

It seems we were just in front of the doorway when I replied to Ryuu-san and the gaggle of girls couldn't contain their apparent appreciation of cute things, which for some arcane reason included me now. I don't think I will ever get used to the possibility of anyone finding me cute. Since they came to that opinion going solely by my outward appearance they can be forgiven this lapse of judgement.

"Aww, come sit in big sister's lap and tell us about yourself," one of the girls invited me, stood up from the chair and took two steps to most likely physically capture me.

I can honestly say I've never moved so fast in my life before. Driven by instinct amplified by a strong flight reflex I've found myself back in my room in approximately two seconds flat. I think I activated my actual flight power and used it to take the corner leading to the courtyard in record speed, then I jumped/flew straight back to my room, instinctually regulating my trajectory all the while.

It took me a few seconds to calm down, but I've found that I did not regret my visceral reaction. True, I'll have to apologize to Ryuu-san for leaving so suddenly, but having to endure the attention of that group of girls would've been akin to torment.

Thankfully I don't need to worry about my ability to fly getting found out since aside from me disappearing behind the door frame my entire route was out of their line of sight. Besides, I only used my flight to increase my speed and compensate for my inexperience actually navigating at that pace. For example, I think I would've overshot my window if I didn't adjust the curve of my jump there.

My next move was to splay out on my bedding and recover from that entire social interaction, including speaking with Ryuu-san. Speaking to the elf was probably just like talking with someone famous. She doesn't know me and I only know about her from second hand, a source of information which may not even be entirely accurate. The difference is that famous people are accustomed to others knowing a lot about them, but I know a lot of private things about Ryuu-san that I really shouldn't and, more importantly, ordinarily couldn't. Making sure to hide all of that while speaking to her is quite tiring for someone like me.

Lying on my bedding with my eyes closed I replayed the conversation I just had and remembered the topic of adventurers with ill intentions. It's a topic that I need to address as soon as possible, so I started doing just that.

I need to remember that this world is not like my previous one. Yes, it's an obvious statement, yes, it might be cliche, but it's also a very important fact that needs to be explicitly recognized so it could be built upon.

Orario is a turbulent place, even at the best of times. The best analogy I can come up for it is a microcosm of countries shoved into a single city. Familias are like distinct countries with their own rules and the Guild is like an international trade organization that can dole out sanctions if its rules are broken. The Denatus is like the G8, only with many more members.

Public order is mostly maintained by the Ganesha Familia, Orario's largest Familia, and although they are doing a fair job, they can't be everywhere and without overwhelming evidence, they can't do much after the fact. For example, they may interrupt a mugging and throw the perpetrators to jail, but if someone reports that they got mugged they can't do much about it.

And there are the incidents that have adventurers associated with them. Those cases have the potential to become more of a political issue as opposed to a straight-up judicial one.

For instance, the crimes of higher-level adventurers may be overlooked or swept under the rug in exchange for monetary or political concessions. I know there was a lot of similar things happening in my old world too, but thankfully I haven't come across an example of that close to me or my family. Nonetheless, as an adventurer myself now, this is something I have to keep in mind. In the end, the only one that can keep me safe is not the law, but only myself. That's another reason to get stronger faster; to avoid ending up on the wrong side of the equation that determines who worth more if it comes to that.

The other possible reason to hesitate when facing people with ill intentions is the moral side of the issue.

In a peaceful society the 'don't kill' and 'if attacked, subdue with minimal force' might be the moral and right thing to do, but here it's not always the best course of action. If someone comes at you with the intention to kill, holding back to a non-lethal response could easily lead to death. Fuck that, if I have to choose between myself and some scum that attacks me just because they think they could get away with it, I would rather keep on living myself, even if that means I have to permanently deal with my attacker.

Of course, in theory it's an easy thing to say, but I can't be sure if I'll be able to keep to it in practice. Still, this is another step I need to affirm. I need to establish within myself that if it comes down to it, it's better them than me.

Damn, that was a heavy topic, but not one I could avoid dealing with. Setting aside that topic for now, I think I will try to make that disguise thing work.

I sat up and dug out my disguise gear and laid it out in front of me. My attempts with it so far didn't achieve much, so I decided to just sit down and think about the best way to actually pull it off. So far I tried to move the clothes in a way that would fool into believing people that someone is wearing them, but I can already tell that there should be an easier way. I'm not saying that the method itself is not feasible, but I don't yet have enough experience with manipulating things this way to make it work.

I kept my eyes closed and imagined actually wearing the disguise..., and I realized I'm an idiot. The marking method worked so well for other objects so far that I apparently forgot that's not the only one I'm capable of. Something something hammer and nails.

Before diving into the tent sized clothes to try this new method I needed to get its prerequisite down pat.

First, I tried creating ethereal hands like the ones I was able to make before I even managed to work out the marking method. By using these new hands to neatly fold the disguise clothes I determined that they were working nicely and I could feel the sensation of touch they convey. Very good, the proof of concept is working nicely.

Next hurdle, creating the ethereal body itself. I have a hunch that in this case trying to imagine a whole frame might be better than working up to it limb by limb, because treating each of my limbs as separate objects to control would be too much for my current multitasking capabilities. Instead, I want to try and connect my subconscious control of my limbs to the ethereal ones created by my Territory.

I think this kind of advanced use of my Territory might've been a bit too much for me, with only about two weeks of practice under my belt, but I have a distinct advantage that might allow me to work it out anyway. That is the fact that I still find myself often disoriented by this new body. It usually happens when I'm doing something very common like rubbing my eyes after waking up, or hurrying to the toilet and finding something very much missing, or the most obvious one, simply seeing myself in the mirror. Every time that happens I feel as if someone pulled out a rug from under me, but it's getting better every day. That's both good, for obvious reasons, and bad, because if it goes away entirely, then that means I got used to my new body and can't use the engraved sense of my old one to serve as a template for my fake physique. At least I hope it can work that way.

With this new direction decided, I started trying to put all that theory into practice, but not five minutes in I was interrupted by a knocking on the door. I was so startled that I jerked up and hit my head on the ceiling, which would've been exceedingly hard to do if I wasn't already hovering well above the floor at the time in order to cut out external sensations so I could focus inward.

Rubbing my head a bit I landed near the door and opened it to find out who was it that knocked.

"Hello, Avrora-san. Is everything alright? You left in quite a hurry, so I wanted to make sure you were fine," said Ryuu-san who turned out to be on the other side of the door.

"Ah, I'm sorry about that," I said as I felt my face heating up a bit. Even if I don't regret that I left like the hounds of hell were on my heels, it's still quite embarrassing. "It's just that I'm not comfortable speaking to strangers and when I saw the lady seemingly reach out to me... I guess my instincts got the better of me," I explained as much as I could while looking contrite.

"No need to apologize, Avrora-san. As an elf, I perfectly understand your apprehension." Thankfully Ryuu-san didn't chide me for my decision. Elves don't like to be touched by strangers either and although the reason for that is probably different, the end result is basically the same. "I thought that might be the case, so I made sure to warn the ladies to not try something like that again, so you don't need to worry about a repeat of the situation."

"Thank you, Ryuu-san," I said. I wanted to argue that there is no need to go so far for me, but that would've accomplished nothing save for annoying Ryuu-san, so I just simply accepted her thoughtfulness.

"I also wanted to thank you for helping me with moving the cargo, it went much faster thanks to you," she praised me.

"Ah, no problem. It was the least I could do, really."

Ryuu-san looked like she was debating whether to say something or keep it at that, but she finally decided to come out and say it.

"Also, Avrora-san, I think it would be for the best if you didn't share the specifics of your magic with too many people. There are a lot of unscrupulous deities that would most likely want to get you to join their Familia. Most Familias consider having people with rare skills or magic a kind of status symbol and your magic most certainly qualifies." She paused for a bit, then continued. "All I want to say is please choose carefully who you trust your secrets with."

This left me a bit stunned, not only because this was the longest I heard Ryuu-san speak in one go, but that she went as far as warning me of this possibility. Although I shouldn't be surprised really, I keep forgetting that my outward appearance is a young girl that would tickle most people's protective instincts. Honestly, that makes me feel like a fraud.

The other surprising thing is that even when undershooting the capabilities of my Territory by a huge margin, it's still something that would attract the curiosity of a number of gods and goddesses.

"Thank you for the warning Ryuu-san. I already did my best to keep it hidden. You are the second person to know about my magic aside from my Guild advisor. Eina-san is professional enough to not tell anyone and there is no one I would trust more to keep my secret from the wrong ears than Ryuu-san."

It took me approximately two seconds to parse just what I said and another half-second to want to adapt the ethereal hand method for my legs so I could kick myself after this. Shit, fuck, I barely know her, who would say something like that at this point? It's one thing that I know her backstory in broad strokes, but it doesn't give me the right to spout creepy shit like that to her. From her point of view, I'm just a kid who knows right about nothing about her, so a sudden declaration of absolute trust must be highly off-putting.

I could see that my response caught her a bit flat-footed too, so before the situation degenerated any further I did what I do best in situations like this. I ran away.

"Thank you again, Ryuu-san. And if there's nothing else then goodbye for now," I said quickly in a bit squeaky voice and closed the door as fast as possible without actually slamming it shut in her face.

With the door closed, I sat down with my back to it and performed a double facepalm. Dammit, today was going relatively well and I had to screw it up with that slip of a tongue. I thought I got used to speaking in japanese already, but it seems it still takes up too much of my brainpower to let me properly think about things before I actually say something.

I picked up the shirt part of the disguise with my telekinesis to at least have something to moan and scream into for a bit. Fuck.

After agonizing enough about my latest social faux pas, I decided to get out of my room for a while. I wore the usual as generic as possible light brown shorts, boots, and shirt, but instead of the long jacket I wear to the dungeon I settled for a light cloak that could hide most of my features. The cloak itself was a very dark gray, so I kinda looked like some mysterious character that stays shrouded in manga or anime in order to build up to some big reveal. It's the perfect getup for a jaunt around Orario.

In light of recent happenings, instead of going through the pub to get outside I just threw myself out of the window. It would've been more dramatic if the act could've constituted any danger to me whatsoever, but that was not the case. Sneaking out through one of the side gates allowed me to disappear into the morning crowd on the street in no time.

I thought about visiting the library again, but by the time I reached the center of the city I, decided on something else.

I know I decided to wait thirty days until I re-examine my chances of rescuing Haruhime, but to even have a remote chance of succeeding I need to get more familiar with the area. For today I hope to simply locate where the Entertainment District even is, since all I can vaguely remember is that it might be somewhere in the southern part of Orario. With that in mind, I directed my steps towards South Main.

* * *

A few hours later I was both happy about successfully locating my objective and disgruntled about what I've found.

As it turns out, the Entertainment District is a veritable mini-city within the south-eastern slice of Orario. It has its own fairly tall walls and a single, well-guarded gate leading in. I suspect that it's highly autonomous as well, meaning inside those walls the only peacekeeping force is the Ishtar Familia. Trying to get out on foot with Haruhime in tow would be nothing less than suicide, so I need to think about how to get her out via an aerial route. By the time it becomes relevant I should have no problem flying with the two of us.

Still, the bigger problem is actually locating Haruhime within the district. Thankfully I don't need to scour the entire area, because that would be nigh impossible. I only need to find her within the central structure that serves as the main base of Ishtar Familia. The issue with that is that it's the main base of Ishtar Familia. It's probably well guarded enough that simply sneaking in and combing through the whole building is infeasible.

It would've been nice if I could trust someone to find out for me which room is Haruhime's, but that's not the case, so I have to settle for another alternative. So, sneaking in without anyone noticing is out, fighting my way in is very out and I don't have enough money to even try bribing someone. I can only think of one method that has perhaps an okay chance of succeeding and that's to use another disguise. Servants are said to be almost invisible at lofty places like this, so if I dress as a hired help I would most likely be able to locate the fox girl in question.

Fuckity fuck, why can't it just be whoosh in, whoosh out and everything's peachy. I need to step up my game in the dungeon, so if something goes wrong at least I can get away, even if I have to use force. I'm not saying I want to be able to mow down over a hundred at least Level 3s and a Level 5, but I would like to be able to throw off a few people so I could fly away at least.

Not to mention that even if I manage to escape the district with Haruhime, the Ishtar Familia would move heaven and earth to find her once again. That is something I still have no solid counterplan for at this time.

Well, that's it for the super-secret ninja spy covert actions for today. It's well over lunchtime by now, so I could go back to the pub and eat the prepared food there, but I think I will eat something at an open-air restaurant I saw on the way here. It might be a temporary state, but I feel that my curiosity about this world's inhabitants currently outweighs my dislike of being around other people. Of course, provided that those other people don't initiate a conversation with me. I guess I could call it a kind of urge to go people-watching.

Half an hour and a good lunch later I've noticed something very interesting. As far as I know, in the original story, the only two races that could reproduce with others are the humans and the amazons. In the case of humans, it means half-dwarves, half-elves, half-pallums, etc. Except for amazons of course, whose children will be inevitably amazons as well, no half this or that business there. The kicker is that for the rest of the races they could only have children with another of the same race. I haven't given it much thought before coming here, but that sounds awfully restricting and kind of a shitty situation. A lot of times it would mean marrying for love or marrying to be able to have children.

What sparked this line of thought was an obvious family at one of the tables, mother, father, young daughter. The intriguing part is that father is obviously an elf, a mage adventurer by the looks of it, the mother is a cat person, or maybe a werepanther, and the little girl is clearly an elf with near-black hair. It would still be possible if one of the apparent parents was not an actual biological parent of the girl, but the adorable tyke bouncing on her dad's knee is an obvious mishmash of her parents.

If they are in fact a blood-related family, then it means in this world the races can interbreed without everyone turning into a little bit of every race genetically. The only way I can see that happening is if the child between different races can only become one or the other. Obviously disregarding half-humans and amazons from the equation.

It's also somewhat scary, since if this is different from what I know, then what else could've changed.

I shook my head. No, I can't be going down that rabbit hole. Double or triple guessing myself is perfectly enough for now, no need to go for quadruple or more.

I watched the antics of the family for a little while more as I sat there nursing the remnants of my drink. Then, since I already paid for the food, I just hopped down from the chair stacked with pillows — put there so I could reach the table — and walked south, in the direction of the Southern Gate leading to outside Orario. There were still many hours of daylight left and I wanted to explore a bit in a way that would not be advisable within Orario.

Leaving the city happened without any fanfare, I just walked out and nobody gave me a second look. The city wall itself was certainly a grand and impressive construction, however seeing the Tower of Babel daily certainly mutes the experience quite a bit.

Once outside the city, I decided to stretch my legs a bit, meaning I took off running as soon as I was far enough from people. It was damn amazing to run across the flower-filled meadows between the farms and worked fields, faster than the speed limit was within residential areas back home. To reach that speed I had to, of course, cheat for now, but it was amazing anyway.

Not long after I ran across a patch of trees dense enough to hide me if I went in far enough. Perfect.

At this point, I haven't seen anyone for quite a while, so I felt it was worth the calculated risk to attempt. Positioning myself at a point where there was a gap in the forest canopy above me, I readied myself as best as I could. I knew the risks were pretty low, but I couldn't help but feel anxious anyway. Finally, I just said 'fuck it' and shot upwards quite fast, but not nearly at the maximum speed I was capable of.

In less than a second, I cleared the forest canopy and kept rising and rising. I kept my gaze partly on the ground since I was afraid that if I only looked down when I was already far away from the ground it could lead to unintended consequences, like fainting and falling to my death, just to name one. I still felt weak in the knees all the way up and the feeling wasn't in a hurry to go away either. It was fortunate that I was flying, because if I tried to stand right now I'm absolutely sure I wouldn't be able to.

In the end, I stopped when it started to get a bit chilly. I had no idea what my exact altitude was, I only knew that I honestly never seen an amazing view like this. Twice I stood in the viewing areas on top of tall buildings back home, but I mostly spent that not trying to freak out due to my fear of heights. Flying under your own power is absolutely nothing even remotely like that. The feeling of control it provides is enough to greatly counteract the fear stemming from being in a high place.

My vocabulary simply fails to adequately convey how truly awe-inspiring it is to be able to look down and see the entirety of Orario, the surrounding fields and forests, Melen and the port with ships coming and going, even the mountains in the distance to the north and east. I feel like nothing would be easier than to touch the top of those mountains right now. Alas, that will have to wait for another day.

I think I could state that I mostly got used to flying without panicking, so I think I should try to find out just how fast I can really go, within reason of course. I don't plan to use all my reserves and drop out of the sky just like that.

As a test, I oriented myself towards Melen and shot off, constantly accelerating.

The first hurdle was the wind buffeting my body, but mainly my face and eyes. I had to slow down and fiddle with my Territory to counteract it somehow. I worked out a brute force method for it, but as expected, it turned out to be quite Mind intensive. Well, it will work fine for now.

Problem somewhat averted, I accelerated once again. I was still unable to tell just how fast I ended up going, but I was pretty sure by the time I reached Melen airspace I was well above highway speeds.

For some reason when thinking of Melen I imagined a kind of fishing village with wooden shacks and the like, but now that I can see it from above it looks more like a small mediterranean city. Maybe I should come to visit sometime in the future. For now, I turned back the way I came from, since it would be a bad idea to touch down where people could possibly witness it. As long as I keep to this altitude my form can easily be chalked up to some kind of bird flying around.

It took me a few minutes to locate the place I took off from, but I successfully returned to the starting point. My Mind reserves took a big hit overall, falling to about less than a third of its maximum, but what ate up the most was keeping the wind pressure at bay when moving at high speeds. In the future, with the development of my Falna, it's possible that my body's resilience will advance to a point where I won't even need to do that anymore.

Even though flying was amazing, I still spent some time simply sitting on the ground after landing, partly to recharge my Mind, partly to reassure myself of the solidity of the earth beneath my feet.

According to my internal clock, it was not even the time I usually leave the dungeon, so before going back to the pub I thought it would be prudent to visit the library at the Guild. I have the list of books Eina recommended and I need to try and get used to the writing system they use here, since I won't always have minutes to decipher each sentence I read. I'm also curious about what the library has about magic tools, since those seem to be the basis of modern conveniences in this world instead of electricity.

I was a bit nervous about going through the South Gate back to Orario again, but the guards seemed to be wholly uninterested in little ol' me.

The Guild's main building was located almost on the other side of Orario, so it took a while to get there. Walking in I saw Eina at a reception desk like usual, looking very busy dealing with adventurers. I had no intentions of disturbing her work, so I skimmed the notification boards and proceeded towards the library.

The books Eina recommended were much more useful compared to the ones I looked through last time. These ones had much better maps and one in particular even had a listing of nations and unclaimed regions, accompanied by short and concise descriptions for each. A perfect guide book for someone like me. I spent a good while practicing reading that particular book.

During breaks from reading, I tried to look for books on magic tools, but this library seemed to only have a basic history about them, nothing about the technical details on how they are made.

The only interesting tidbit I found was the method of refining magic stones, which is basically just crushing magic stones into dust inside a special apparatus that keeps the pieces from disintegrating, then mixing it with some kind of specialized liquid and stuffing that into various sized containers that serve as batteries for magic tools of most kind.

It's quite an interesting subject.

There are also magic items which are quite different from magic tools. For one, they don't require any kind of power source, but it takes some kind of special ability to create them. Obvious examples are magic swords and magic items created by the Mystery Development Ability, like the Talaria, the flying sandals created by Asfi Al Andromeda.

I have the sneaking suspicion that Haruhime's collar would be the second kind, so no easy way of defusing it by yanking out the power source directly.

Looking out the window it seemed the sun was starting to set, so it was about time I went back to my room for today.

On the way out Eina didn't recognize me, which was understandable since my clothes were different from usual and my every distinctive feature was hidden by my cloak, save for my height, but that only helped me keep below the radar.

On the way back to my room I realized that even though today was a day off for me, I felt more tired than after an average day in the dungeon. I guess that's what happens when I wander too much amongst people.

Until now, when I was returning to the pub I only used the front entrance, which is strange, because I could've just used a side gate to enter through the backyard more discreetly. Taking advantage of that route I remotely opened the window of my room and with a power-assisted hop, I've found myself back in my den.

Closing my eyes I searched most of the pub for the presence of Ryuu-san, but haven't found her anywhere. I let out a sigh of relief because of that. It's childish of me, but I don't want to face her so soon after this morning's incident. I might be overblowing the importance of this, but since I rarely experience meaningful social interactions, every little misstep feels that much more important to me.

Stashing my cloak and gathering up a change of clothes I went to take a shower. Even if it was a day off, I ran around quite a bit today.

After the shower, I dropped off my old clothes back at my room, then I headed down to the pub for dinner. I only realized that I had forgotten to bring today's rent money with me when I had already reached the stairs leading down, but instead of walking back to the room to get it I decided to practice my longer range and out-of-sight use of my telekinesis. Since I knew where I left my money I quickly located it, marked a 500 valis coin, then loosened the pouch so I could get it out more easily. The coin might've fit under the door, but I still opened it to practice that too. A few seconds later I brought up my hand to catch the coin shooting down the corridor.

It's one thing to fight hordes of monsters deep in the bowels of the earth, but somehow things like this what really highlight the difference between this world and my previous one.

With the appropriate amount of money now in my possession, I went down to eat dinner.

Not much happened during dinner. I already got my fill today of people watching, so I just focused on eating my food. Mama Mia surprised me by thanking me for helping Ryuu-san pack away this morning. I wondered if she had heard about my magic or not, but from her behavior, I didn't think so.

After finishing my food and paying my rent, I've finally settled down in my room. Even though it was my day off, kind of a lot happened today. I mentally recounted today's events starting with helping Ryuu-san, scoping out the Entertainment District, going for a flight outside Orario, researching stuff in the library. All in all, quite a productive day.

Still, the dungeon waits for me once again tomorrow, so it's best if I get enough rest before that. I hope to prevent a lack of sleep from being the cause of my hypothetical demise.

Digging out my designated sleepwear I changed and hit the hay.


	12. Chapter 12

I was quietly humming the dwarfs' marching song from Snow White on my way to the dungeon. It felt oddly appropriate since what adventurers essentially do is a kind of mining of resources from sources somewhat less willing than inanimate surfaces.

I think it was a good idea to take yesterday off, since it turned out to be quite a therapeutic experience. Also, by scouting out the enemy territory I can let my background thoughts churn away at the problem more effectively.

I was happy to notice that walking down the stairs leading to the dungeon was no longer scary at all. Instead, I had to hold myself back from jumping over the rails and smoothly gliding all the way down.

For some reason, I've found myself skipping and prancing on my way down to the Fourth Floor. A few adventurers looked at me a bit funny on the way, but I guess I can't really blame them. Even I would find it strange if I saw a single-digit years old looking little girl prancing around alone on her way down into the murderous abyss, with a sword weighing a few dozen kilograms slanted on her back. Meh, they can deal with it.

Perhaps even the monsters shied away from me due to my strange behavior, because it was smooth sailing until the Fourth Floor. Stopping a short distance away from the entrance to the Floor I thought about my approach to combat for today. Should I focus on getting as many monsters as I can? Or maybe try to minimize exposure to other adventurers? Perhaps I should focus on working out a few more destructive moves in case of an emergency?

While the last idea has a lot of merit and I will certainly revisit it in the near future, for now, I will simply focus on my engagements and try to identify aspects that I can improve upon. I can currently be fairly sure that no monster that naturally belongs on this floor can hurt me with my Shield up. I think I'll make use of that fact to turn the monsters into mobile sparring puppets for today.

On the topic of the Shield, I think I will change its name to Shell from now on, since I think it's better suited for it and in the future I would like to develop other defensive methods that would deserve the name Shield more.

After that short preparation phase, I activated my Shell and I set out to find myself some vicious murder machines in order to severely exploit them.

It was very strange to simply stand there and watch as two kobolds and three goblins tried to claw, bite, rip, tear, shred, even kick me without much success. My Shell was holding steady and since I managed to set its thickness so that it covered my clothes I looked like the perfect picture of calm, even as five monsters were doing their very best to extinguish my life.

This whole situation might scream of arrogance and a generous helping of hubris, but I did my best to turn this into an as much controlled experiment as I could. I made sure to choose a room fairly out of the way to minimize the chance of other adventurers happening upon me, I verified that my tank was full at the start and confirmed that there was only a manageable number of monsters present.

I left Biggy near the wall because I couldn't manage to encapsulate it within my Shell yet. At least this way all attacks hit my Shell instead of Biggy being on my back complicating things.

The attacks started not even a minute ago, but I'm already very glad that kobold slobber is included in the things that my Shell repulses. It's still disgusting though.

After waiting for another ten seconds I decided to end it quickly, so I directly tore out the monsters' magic stones via telekinesis. In addition to monitoring my Mind expenditure while under assault, I also searched out and marked each of their magic stones. My sensing range is severely diminished whenever I'm using my Shell, but I can still make out things in about one and a half or two meters around me. That's how I could still manipulate the magic stones in the attacking monsters.

"Keh, keh," I did my best to wave away the monster dust I suddenly found myself surrounded by. It didn't get on me too much, but it seems powder like this is below the threshold of repulsion for my current Shell. I'll need to see if I can change that later.

This experiment provided good info about my Shell's capacity, Mind usage rate, and how long it takes to find and mark magic stones within active monsters. The answers in order are 'good', 'kinda okay', and 'still too long'.

After bagging the stones I took out my notepad to jot down the results in more detail, but as I was writing, I heard a commotion outside the room. Frowning, I turned around to see if the shouts were coming closer. I specifically chose this room because it was out of the way of the usual routes, so I didn't expect anyone to show up, especially not with this much of a ruckus.

Judging from the sounds they were indeed getting closer. I was just contemplating whether it would be better to stick my head out and take a look or just stay out of their way entirely, when I saw a short figure dart across in front of the opening of the room. I only saw a glimpse, but I think the figure was not much taller than me and had green hair under their hood. He or she also had a sizable backpack on their back.

Now that the shouts were getting closer I could hear bits and pieces that told me that they are apparently chasing a thief - most likely the one that ran past the room just now - and that they are very pissed.

Whelp, not planning to get into the middle of that, so I started walking towards Biggy to practice extending my Shell to it if I can. However, I was interrupted before I could take more than two steps, by a shout from one of the adventurers standing in the doorway pointing at me and shouting "In here! I've found the little fucker!". Within five seconds a five-man party barred my way and spread out in front of the sole exit of the room to make sure I couldn't go anywhere.

Words simply can not express how absolutely jubilant I am to be the target of this misunderstanding. Truly a joyous occasion. Fucking hell. It was just yesterday that Ryuu-san warned me about asshole adventurers and the very next day this happens? Is this world really operating on narrative conventions like that or is this just a cruel twist of fate? A topic to ponder later.

Possible pre-battle check first. First priority, keep Shell up until I'm alone again. Potential foes rundown, five individuals, four males, one female. Two humans with sword and board, a cat person and another human with short swords and backups daggers on their belts, and finally an elf or half-elf with a mid-sized crossbow. All their equipment looks to be Guild bought, so possibly still inexperienced.

They also look considerably pissed off, which I could understand since they were apparently just robbed, but I wish they would try to take that out on the actual culprit instead.

A quick check with my Territory, and through that my still not that precise Falna sense, and I see that there is no way any of them could be higher than Level 1. I still can't accurately tell the power level of people with Falna, but the feedback I got from these five is honestly among the lowest I've ever paid attention to so far. That is a bit reassuring, but for all I know all of them were champions of combat even before getting their Falna, so I still need to be vigilant in case it devolves into a fight.

I should try to clear up the misunderstanding first, so all this can end peacefully. However, before I could open my mouth one of them started to shout.

"You fucking idiot! This is not the same pallum! Are your eyes only for show!?" The leader looking individual berated the one that 'identified' me. "Now it's fuckin' too late to catch up to that twerp. All our money down the fuckin' drain. Goddammit!"

The leaderish person kept throwing a tantrum which caused the others to take a step back.

"But boss, this one has the same green hair like the other kid. This must be his partner in crime or something," the chewed out guy tried to rationalize his mistake by coming up with bullshit excuses. Peachy.

"Why would his partner hole up in a room with only one exit and wait to be captured, you idiot?" The leaderish guy retorted, but then got a thoughtful look on his face. "I see, I see," said the guy while pacing in front of the exit. "You stay here, where no one in their right mind would try to hide if they were guilty and take the heat off your partner, expecting to be let off because of that."

Yepp, that's a wonderful theory that is one hundred percent wrong.

"But you can't fool me, nah you can't," he actually put his index finger to his temple then pointed at me with it. I guess that gesture is universal somehow. "We know that you are with that little Supporter runt, and even if you are not, you shouldn't have gotten separated from your party." Slowly an evil looking grin spread out on his face. The others slowly caught on too and mirrored their leader's expression. "An unaffiliated Supporter like you," he gestured to my getup with no Familia emblem in sight, "should just stick to their betters and not wander off or something like this is bound to happen. Don't worry, we will leave you alive enough to crawl out of here in one piece. It would be a shame to waste the opportunity to repeat this occasion."

Well, my surefire strategy of letting them figure out they got the wrong person and leaving after offering me an apology seems to have gone up in flames. I guess it was the other meaning of surefire this time. Still, the guy managed to make me want to simply use Biggy and slaughter each and every one of these bastards that feel justified mugging and beating a young pallum girl, just for being at the wrong place at the wrong time. Yet, I won't do that.

It's their lucky break that he actually specified they would leave me alive, so I have an excuse to not play judge, jury, and executioner in this case. At least this way I won't have to end my first direct interaction with other adventurers by killing all of them. I don't think my state of mind would appreciate that too much.

Still, they are also unfortunate because I'm fucking furious. And me being fuming mad is a state very much not conducive to rational thinking.

Somewhere along the way I seemed to have closed my eyes, so the first thing I noticed was the rattling of Biggy against the wall where I left it. I guess my control of marked objects isn't perfect when under significant emotional stress. I need to watch out for that.

"Hey, guys. There is something-", the one with the crossbow started to call out to his party members, probably to call attention to the noise Biggy was making, but the leaderish guy talked over him.

"No use getting that angry, that's just how the world works. If you want to blame someone, blame-"

"DO NOT fucking finish that sentence, you damn vermin." Not willing to listen to the idiocy of that asshole anymore I manifested ten ethereal hands, half of which I used to plaster all five of them to the wall around the exit of the room and the other half I used to shut them up. Yanking from the ground also caused most of their weapons to uselessly clutter to the ground.

Even through the red haze, I noticed that the hands manifested were much larger than my physical ones, a single one enough to grab an adventurer by the torso and another one to envelop their heads and keep their mouths shut, without cutting off their air supply of course. Also, the hands provided only basic feedback and not the detailed sense of touch they usually do.

I opened my eyes the same time I shouted at the asshole and made sure to put as much fury to my stare as I could. It seemed to be somewhat effective from the desperate struggles and muted whimpering. I guess if the saying 'put the fear of God in them' is less applicable here, I'll have to settle for the fear of me.

"I don't know who you lot are, but if you try to do something like that to anyone again, I will find you, and I will end you. No matter who you hide behind, no matter how far you run. Am I understood?"

Not getting much else aside from constant struggling and attempts to wriggle out of my hold I let out a deep sigh.

"Am. I. Fucking. Understood!?" I shouted as loud as I could and punctuated the last word by raising my right leg and stomping down on the floor hard. Power assisted of course. I activated my flight power to keep my balance and watched as the ground a few meters around me was crushed and formed a crater. A bit bigger than intended, but it will serve its purpose.

This time, after more whimpers and silent screams, I felt them trying to furiously nod their head. Hopeful that they were sufficiently cowed, I let them fall the two meters they were suspended above the ground. All of them managed to land without injuries, but not without pain. They really are a bunch of greenhorns if a two meter fall could still cause pain to them.

It started slow, but "oh gods, I'm sorry I'm sorry" and such could be heard from most of them. I only planned to just glare at them until they made themselves scarce, but when I heard a "we didn't know" I just had to add something.

"What do you mean by you fucking didn't know!?" I shouted at the sole female of the group, to which she let out a brief shriek. "You shouldn't even fucking think about doing something like that! What kind of piece of shit people are you to try to rob and beat up a young girl, just because you can!? Get out of my damn sight!"

The five of them scrambled for the exit nearly pushing each other out of the way, even leaving the equipment they dropped behind. Damn it, now it's like I'm the one robbing them.

"And take your shit with you!" I yelled as I threw their equipment after them with my still present ethereal hands, getting another few shrieks and yelps. Finally, they picked up their stuff and high tailed it out of there.

"Goddammit," I swore. This wasn't in the plans. Thankfully, I mostly restrained myself to feats possible with my fake magic, but the situation is still not ideal. I could've resolved this shit without revealing this much, but... I really, really wanted to dissuade them from trying something like this again. Even if I had to strike terror in their hearts to do it.

I plopped down on the broken ground in the middle of the room, preparing to wait out the shakes from the adrenaline overdose I just got. It's funny that dealing with monsters at these levels barely fazes me anymore, but one antagonistic encounter with some humans and I'm a wreck. Yeah, I guess those are different enough for it to be an understandable reaction.

What would those guys think if they saw me right now just shivering in the middle of the room after all that.

Did I go overboard? I don't think I can reliably answer that question this close to the event, but for now, I'm going with no. I might've channeled a lot of my frustration and anger into that minute of action, but I still think they deserved every bit of it for what they intended to do. Not to me specifically, although there is that too, but to everyone in seemingly the same circumstance I was. The difference was that I could do something about it. And I did, and hopefully not just about my specific incident.

I made those threats hoping they would believe them, but I don't think I would be able to follow up on them in case they didn't heed my warning. If I was already Level 5 or 6, then I might've endeavored to do so, but currently, I don't think it's within my capabilities.

Next question, am I getting drunk on power? I really can't fucking tell. All I know is that it's likely that I'm already at a point where no single Level 1 adventurer can win against me in a straight up one-on-one fight and I've only been here for just over two weeks. That's too damn fast no matter how I look at it. I barely did anything to get this strong and I fear that it might influence my mentality in an undesirable direction. Suddenly gained unearned power can do that.

Hmm, I guess adventurers with worries like this usually turn to their deity or more experienced Familia members for advice. Shame that's not in the cards for me.

A few minutes into my contemplation I heard cracks all over the room, but since I was too exhausted to give a shit I just ripped the monsters apart with telekinesis as soon as they entered my range. I was running low on Mind too thanks to those flashy moves right after testing my Shell, but I still had enough to spare for wiping out a few goblins and kobolds.

And I had such a nice day thus far too, damn idiot adventurers ruining my mood like that.

Losing my drive to do much else for today I waited in that same room for my Mind to be back to full. At least I still had sandwiches to munch on in the meantime.

I got attacked only two times until I was ready to leave and they weren't that big groups either. It didn't take long to reach the surface either and since it was only early afternoon I didn't see too many people on the way out either. I decided to take advantage of the lack of queues at the Guild exchange and turn today's haul into valis. Since I spent most of the morning experimenting rather than actively trying to hunt more monsters, I only got 11,800 valis for today.

I promised to see Eina when I was planning on going down a Floor, so I need to go and visit her first before going back to the pub. I took my time and slowly started walking towards the Guild building. I could've hurried more, but instead I kept cloud gazing the entire way. I made sure to not bump into anyone using my Territory, so I didn't cause any traffic accidents either. That stroll in the sky affected me more than I thought if I keep wishing to repeat it not even a day later. I guess it already represents the ultimate place to run away in my mind. I need to moderate how much I allow myself to indulge in it before it becomes an addiction.

Getting my head out of the clouds, I shook my head and turned my gaze to the road instead, just in time to see the Guild building not far away. Not wasting more time I walked through, or rather under, the saloon doors and searched for Eina. She was at a reception desk as usual and a few adventurers were waiting in line in front of her. She saw me too and almost got ready to close down the desk, but I gestured to indicate that I wasn't in a hurry and could wait until those in line finished with their business. She somehow managed to understand what I was trying to convey and got back to her job.

To occupy my time until she was free I turned to the notice boards. I always liked to read everything I could in various waiting rooms and the notice board had a bunch of interesting things. For example, now that I know the basic geography of this place I can tell where the three most prominent shipping routes advertised here lead to. The first is going to the closest out of the three, a port city of Telskyura called Tetaria.

If I remember right, this route is mainly focused on trading goods, since Telskyura is a very isolationist country otherwise where amazons run rampant under the banner of Kali, an absolute bitch of a goddess not caring about anything else other than creating the perfect warrior. Their society is based on fighting monsters and each other to the death, all in the pursuit of more power. As one can expect, this practice gives birth to a lot of psychopaths and emotionally damaged people. Only a handful ever manage to get away from that kind of life, such as Tione and Tiona, but not without emotional scarring in their case either.

All-in-all, it's an extremely shitty place, but still one of the greatest military powers of the world, next to Orario and Rakia, the country led by Ares.

The second route leads to a large trade hub called Jaha. Jaha is both the name of the city and the island it's situated upon, since at this point there is not much of a difference. Thanks to its ideal location nearly all seafaring vessels moving through the area stop there. Throughout the centuries it grew to the largest island-based city in the world thanks to that. Around Jaha there are many other independent island nations, some larger, some smaller, and together they form a loose coalition called the Dizara Region when dealing with outside influences.

The third route is the most interesting one, since it leads to the Far East, the Japan themed islands on the east side of the continent. Rather than being a single nation or even a loose coalition of independent ones, the area is filled with a bunch of warlords constantly at each other's throats trying to fulfill some great ambition by conquering what they can. It's essentially the warring states period there right now. What makes it worse is that it's also filled with monsters that frequently ravage the land too.

Most people traveling between the Far East and Orario do so via the nautical route, since it takes about only three weeks that way, as opposed to the land route, which, although much cheaper overall, may take months and is considerably more dangerous.

Although it's unlikely that I would visit any of these places in the foreseeable future, I like to know more about the world I ended up part of, if only to prove to myself that this is not some kind of fever dream I've found myself in.

Noticing somebody closing in on me through my Territory I whipped my head towards the person, only to see Eina almost stumble on her way to me. Gathering herself she gestured towards the private rooms, so I nodded and started following her. Walking down the empty corridor Eina finally spoke.

"Hello Avrora," she greeted me. "You seemed to be quite engrossed in reading the notice board, so I didn't want to disturb you, but I forgot about your sensing ability. Do you have it always activated? Can it even be turned off?" She asked while she flipped the sign on a door from open to occupied, then stepped inside the room.

"When I'm outside I usually keep at its maximum spread, except when I'm using Shell mode, but that's only down in the dungeon so far," I replied.

"Shell mode? I don't think you've told me about that before," she inquired.

"Ah, it's another function of my Territory. If I compress it near my body I can use it to create a kind of shell that protects me from incoming hits and I can also use it to hit harder," I explained briefly as we sat down. "The only problem with it is that I can only sense a small area around me while I'm using it for now."

"That's amazing Avrora-chan. I'm happy to hear that you have something that improves your defense too. I was worried that for all the amazing functions of your ability all it would take is an unlucky hit for something awful to happen, but this eases some of my worries," she said, looking visibly relieved. "Can you tell me exactly what degree of protection it provides?"

"Well, I haven't been able to determine how powerful of a single strike it can withstand, but it can easily hold off about five small monsters constantly attacking it for about a minute...," I slowly stopped speaking due to the metaphorical storm clouds gathering over Eina and her electrified gaze.

"Avrora. Pray tell, how exactly do you know that?" she demanded.

"It was a perfectly safe experiment! I took all precautions and was ready to pull the plug on it at the first sign of something going wrong," I hurried to defend my decision. "I needed to find out how much I can trust my Shell so it wouldn't fail me at a crucial point in the future. It was important information I needed to know before I ventured deeper."

As I kept explaining my reasons, pressing the importance of the experiment, the storm clouds slowly dispersed from above Eina. That's not to say she was happy about it still, but at least she wasn't trying to bite my head off for it either.

"I see. If that Shell is really that durable, then I guess there wasn't that big of a risk, but I would still like it better if you didn't try something like that again without someone there to watch your back." The 'and you should join a Party to accomplish that' went left unsaid this time. "Still, this ability of yours is truly extraordinary. I've never heard of something like it before."

I didn't really know what to say to that, so I just sat quietly until the atmosphere turned a bit awkward. But fear not! I know just the topic to liven up the conversation once more. I just have to mention how I almost got mugged. That will most certainly cheer up the half-elf.

Five minutes and a four-minute tirade from my advisor later it appeared that no, the topic did not cheer Eina up. Who would've thunk it. Instead, she was demanding to know who they were, ready to tear them a new one. Sadly, I could only provide a basic description which was not enough to positively identify the Party in question. I didn't really mind it, since I don't want Eina to possibly go overboard because of her sense of professionalism.

"Avrora, if something like this happens again, then I want you to break at least one limb on each of them so we could identify them later, okay?" Damn girl, I didn't expect her to be so ruthless. Now I feel much better about how I handled everything at the time. Besides the, you know, possibly leaving some trails for rabid deities to sniff me out. That part is less than ideal. Eh, I strongly suspected I won't be able to keep the first stage of my ability under wraps for long and this was a justifiable reason to possibly unveil it now. Done, not gonna agonize about that shit anymore.

"...I'll do my best," I agreed, tentatively, with Eina's request.

"Good. A bunch of ruffians that would... They deserve nothing less," she declared, slowly calming down. Seeing the opportunity I changed the topic.

"I was thinking about going down to the Fifth Floor next time, since I fulfilled the three days requirement Eina-san set for me. I feel that the Fourth Floor falls below my current abilities, even factoring in a very cautious margin for error."

"Yes, that should be fine, especially after your little display with that other party," she acceded more easily than I thought she would. "They should be cursing their luck right about now how they ran across a high level adventurer on such a low Floor," she chuckled at that. "It's too bad that you aren't part of a big Familia, they would most likely be shouting your accomplishments from the rooftops. Reaching the Fifth Floor on your eighths day in the Dungeon and solo to boot. That's unheard of for someone with a freshly acquired Falna."

"Tomorrow is my eighths day. I took a day off yesterday," I corrected her since I forgot to tell her about it before.

"That's even worse, then," she threw up her hands. "Also, good choice on taking a break. I would've suggested it for the day after tomorrow at the latest," she added as a side note. "Still, at this rate, there is a chance you might be able to break the Sword Princess's record for reaching Level 2."

I grimaced at that. Not to mention Aiz's record, at this rate it's possible I would undercut even Bell's future record. If I dialed back somewhat on my level of cautiousness, which I won't do, I'm fairly confident I could get there before my forty-fifth day, which was about how long it took Bell to level up. This is obviously an abnormal state of affairs and there isn't even an explanation in my Falna that I can point to and say 'yeah, that's why'. No other Skill, no Development Ability, not even a damn post-it note with 'btw haxxor xp gainz' written on it.

Why am I even hung up on this? Shouldn't this be an unequivocally positive thing for me? From a purely utilitarian point of view, it very much is. Rather, without it, I would most likely be in deep shit.

And yet it also has the chance to make my interpersonal relationships that much strained. Even in the later light novel volumes, the author had to separate Bell from his party members since any battle that would pose a threat to Bell would be most likely deadly for Lily and the others, and any battle difficult for them would be a cakewalk for Bell with more than 2 levels of difference between them. I would similarly outgrow any party members I might find now and since I don't have protagonist charisma, it would most likely bring a lot of resentment with it.

Joining up with higher level people might be a fix for the outgrowth issue, but seeing someone reach and perhaps even overtake their hard-earned levels with a fraction of the effort would end up at the same basic result.

Since there is a high likelihood I would be rejected anyway, it's better to not join any party to begin with.

"Since the Fifth Floor is a kind of a watershed point, I think we should review the important details on what to expect," Eina snapped me out of my contemplations. I shook my head a bit to stash that line of thought for now.

"Okay," I agreed.

After that we recounted the information we've already discussed on my first week here, but it all felt much more pertinent now that I was about to embark on the Floor in question. Once again, I was thankful that Eina was such a perfectionist. This way I can be safe in the knowledge that if something goes wrong in the dungeon it was I who fucked up.

Shortly after we finished up today's consultation I said goodbye and exited the Guild building. I thought about staying in the library, but I was not in the mood for it currently.

Not wanting to go back to the Hostess yet, I started to wander the streets of Orario. Since I already knew what the North-East Main street I was standing on had to offer, I decided to take a look at what kinds of stores are on North Main. The north is kind of the rich part of the city, housing quite a lot of bigger Familias, including the Loki Familia.

I decided to go through the back alleys instead of going all the way back to Babel to change over to North Main. Ordinarily, that would not be a big deal, but since I was quite wary of Orario's back alleys, this is the very first time I strayed off the main streets. I'm still a bit cagey about them, but these are one of the safest parts of the city and even if something were to happen, chances are I could get away now.

Remembering the map Eina gave me about where to find the Goibniu Familia, I fished it out the pack of notes from my bag and inspected it. Might as well check up on that too since it's on the way. Deciding to follow its directions I went down the indicated side street. Sometimes I had to scratch my head for a minute or two, since not every corner was marked on the map, but after a while, I've found my objective. On the last bit I just had to head towards the sounds of metal hitting metal and soon found myself in front of the main Goibniu Familia shop.

The exterior of the shop was pretty underwhelming, even though it belonged to one of the premier smithing Familias of Orario, but then again, I guess they don't need to pretty it up when everyone knows about their competence anyway.

A chiming sound accompanied the opening of the shop door, to which the man at the counter raised his head to look my way.

"Welcome to the shop of Goibniu Familia," he greeted me after a short pause, during which he gave me a measuring gaze.

"Hello," I said as I walked to the counter. "My advisor recommended I come here for a checkup for my sword. I bought it not long ago from the Guild beginner equipment store and I wanted to make sure there is nothing wrong with it," I explained to the store clerk while I reached to my back and freed Biggy from its harness. I changed my grip on it and offered it to the man handle first, since I wasn't tall enough to simply put it on top of the counter without telekinesis, which I obviously couldn't use right now. I had to stand on my tiptoes to even achieve that, but he finally caught on.

"I see. Usually, Guild equipment is routinely checked by smiths, but it's best to make sure," he said as he reached for the sword. "Checking it will only take- uggh," surprised by its weight he almost dropped it on my head, but then he caught it with both hands. "This is surprisingly heavy for a beginner equipment," he murmured. Shooting me a puzzled glance, I could see he was curious about the fact I handled it with no problem, but decided not to pry in the end. I can count that as a big plus in favor of this shop if this remains the case.

"I'll have one of the smiths check on it and I'll be back right away," the clerk said and went through a door in the back. While the door was open the sound of hammers could be heard quite loudly. Apparently, the door and the surrounding walls provide quite a bit of soundproofing. I wonder if that's due to some kind of a magic tool, magic item, or they are just that well built.

It was kind of fun to track Biggy through the walls and since it was marked I could still feel its position even when it briefly left the range of my Territory. I made sure not to move it in any way while it was handled by others, since that would've been very conspicuous.

Since I amused myself by tracking Biggy, I didn't even have time to look over all the weapons on display before the clerk came back, accompanied by the momentary increase in noise level once again.

"According to one of the smiths this sword is in fairly good condition for now, but it direly needs some routine maintenance," he explained. "I assume you didn't do anything like that since you bought it."

"Only basic cleaning, but I don't think that's what you mean," I assumed.

"No, it's not," he confirmed. "No problem, I'll show you how it works right now."

The next several minutes were spent on me learning how to maintain swords. This was obviously not the first time the clerk guy taught it to someone, so it was quite easy to learn. I really should've visited sooner.

Paying for the lesson and the maintenance kit did not set me back too much either, thankfully. I was also told to come back with Biggy in one month or if I notice something wrong with it.

After leaving the store I wandered in the general direction of North Main, hoping not to get lost too much. Apparently I didn't need to worry, since I've soon found a street that pretty much led straight to the main street I was looking for.

I ended up spending quite a lot of time window shopping and such, but the most memorable event was probably the famous jagamarukun stall. I managed to come across the very stall that will employ a certain goddess in the future. Yet its unassuming appearance gave no indication of the grand destiny that lies in its future.

With great, most certainly not faked, reverence, I bought one of every available flavor to mark this momentous occasion. Munching away at the snacks I slowly walked to Babel, and from there back to the Hostess. By the time I reached the pub, there was none of it left, but at least I determined I liked the azuki cream and the lightly spicy flavored versions the most. I thought it would be overhyped at best, but ended up liking it more than I thought. I think I might even buy some before going down into the dungeon from time to time. There is another stall that I could visit with a small detour on my way to the dungeon and a little variation from straight sandwiches sometimes is good for the soul.

I snuck through the back once again, managing to avoid everyone. This method of entry is quickly becoming a habit, which I don't think I will break.

It was still not quite dinner time yet, so I busied myself with my disguise practice.

Stumbling around on ethereal legs took a lot of concentration at the beginning, but it slowly got more instinctual as time went on. However, I haven't managed to add arm movements into the mix yet, since every time I tried my legs went all wobbly. Still, it's an okay progression for today. If I keep at it, I'll be able to make use of it in the future.

I packed away the disguise set and I also palmed a five hundred valis coin to pay to Mama Mia, but before I actually went down to the pub I changed my mind. I wasn't that hungry thanks to the jagamarukuns, so I might as well skip today's dinner and I could pay today's rent tomorrow with no problems.

With my evening free I just lay on my cot and thought about my planned rescue operation. Yet, racking my brain all evening didn't bring me any viable new ideas, since the only plan so far that has a chance of working is the 'disguise myself as a servant' one, but even that is damn risky. I can't know for sure how thorough their security is, so for all I know they keep track of every servant and I would be discovered immediately. Dammit, I need something else, but I can't think of anything better.

My contemplation was interrupted by an uncharacteristic sneeze. It took me very much by surprise because this may have been the very first time I sneezed with this body. It was strange how much quieter it was compared to all the ones I remember from before, I guess having a substantially smaller body and lung capacity may do that. Hmm, maybe I should tidy up the room soon, it's a bit dusty.

Giving up on thinking about the infiltration problem for the time being, I went to sleep.

* * *

The first obvious difference I noticed on the Fifth Floor was the color of the light the dungeon provided. Instead of the blue tint it had until now, it had turned to a greenish light instead. It was a bit jarring at first, but I quickly got used to it.

Although I'm certainly overqualified for this Floor in terms of stats, the possibility of new types of monsters appearing provides a compelling reason to be on my best guard. On this new floor the chance of Killer Ants, Frog Shooters, and War Shadows appearing goes up significantly. I say goes up because it's not unheard of for one of the above to wander to the fourth or even higher floors.

The Frog Shooters are the least worrisome of the bunch, since it attacks primarily by shooting its sticky tongue at the enemy. Therefore I don't have to worry about it too much, since my Shell will stop it before it could connect. Of course, I'll have to make sure that it indeed works like that, but I see no reason why it wouldn't.

Killer Ants are something I'm a bit wary of, not just because it's called the new adventurer killer due to its highly resistant shell and significantly more powerful attacks, but because it's a goddamn insect. I hate insects with a passion, especially when they get on me. Ants are not as bad as some others, but I don't think I will enjoy fighting them too much either way.

War Shadows are also resistant to physical attacks, which are, surprise surprise, most attacks that adventurers can perform at this level. It's also weak to magical attacks, but not many can take advantage of that weakness before moving on to higher floors. Its attack power is quite high too, with three sharp knife-like fingers on each hand it can cause very serious injuries. I look forward to seeing how my Territory and telekinesis interacts with it.

When I recount them like that it becomes obvious that the Fifth Floor is really the end of the kiddy stuff that one through fourth floor was. On the first few floors adventurers rarely lose their life, and even if they do, it's usually because they were huge dumbasses or were particularly unlucky for some reason. That's not the case for the Fifth Floor and up. Adventurers regularly die here and I need to prepare myself for the possibility of finding dead bodies sometimes. I'm not looking forward to that part of the adventurer lifestyle, that's for sure.

But, I can't chicken out now or I'll never be able to move forward.

With greater vigilance and trepidation than usual, I ventured forth on the Fifth Floor.

In the first hour, I haven't managed to come across any of the new monsters, but the usual goblins and kobolds were in attendance in greater numbers than before. I know that the same kind of monsters on the Eighth and Ninth Floor are considerably stronger, so I was careful when I first engaged them, but it seemed there was no difference between these and the ones on the upper floors.

I was fighting a sizable group of baddies when a surprise guest showed up on the scene. That guest was a war shadow. I quickly released my Shell and before any of the lesser mobs could close in on me, I used my telekinesis to send a crushing blow into each of their faces. I just managed to work out an easy method to guide my telekinetic blasts today, but it seems to be working very well. In essence, it's an application of the extended proprioception my Territory gives me. Just like someone can tell the position of their hands without it needing to be in their visual range, I'm pretty much aware of every point of interest within my range as if it was part of my body. If I had to liken it to something, it's like I'm holding the head of every opponent with a virtual hand and pummeling it with another. That makes it exceptionally easy to target whatever I want with telekinetic blasts.

With the small monsters out of the picture, I faced the war shadow with my reconstituted Shell on once again. It's getting easier every day to rapidly shift between Shell mode and Area mode, but I hope it won't be long until I can better combine the two somehow.

There were various kinds of depictions for this particular monster back home, the anime, manga and mobile game versions, but none of them really managed to do it justice it seems. Its most noticeable feature is the fact that it looks like a somewhat humanoid shaped mass of pitch-black smoke. The only part that is different is a white globe that usually peeks out from under the smoke that roughly makes up its forehead. No one really knows if it serves some purpose or not, but breaking it kills the monster too, much like if you hit its magic stone, but it's also different because it leaves a corpse in that case. If a clump of shadows can be called a corpse.

Readying Biggy, I stepped forward into the rush of the war shadow, dodged a swipe of its claws and sliced across its body, much like how I did with other monsters before. I expected my sword to encounter some significant resistance, but it went through the monster unexpectedly smoothly. I furrowed my brows and checked my surroundings for other possible assailants, but the area was quiet.

Apparently, war shadows are not that resistant to physical attacks as I imagined. People with short swords or daggers might have a harder time with them, but I think a sufficiently heavy sword can pretty much negate any advantage it might have.

As for its vulnerability to magic, I'll have to test that later, since it would've been a pretty bad idea to start experimenting right on my first encounter with it. I can't even test things on its remains right now, because bisecting it triggered the faster decomposition rate and the only thing that still remains is its magic stone.

Hmm, nice. It's a noticeably larger piece than the ones I got thus far. Into my stash it goes.

The other monsters I had to quickly take out still had their corpses more or less intact, so I utilized the usual method to extract the magic stones. It's not quite as fast as doing it by hand would be, but it's much less disgusting and it's good practice for the magic stone sense I'm trying to develop. Not too much progress on that one yet, but I can't be too demanding.

The second new monster I've met was not a frog shooter, or even a killer ant, but a damn needle rabbit. The little fucker tried to skewer my thigh, but its horn was thankfully blocked by my Shell. Although if my Territory was on Area mode, then I would've noticed it coming and would've been able to dodge it, most likely. Nonetheless, my reaction was to kick it so hard it ended up as a red smear on the far wall. It's criminal that something so cute could be so hostile and dangerous.

The rest of the day went by quickly. I only came across a frog shooter during the rest of my stay - the tongue was indeed easy to block - but not a killer ant, although I won't be shedding any tears for the missed chance. Still, my first day on the Fifth Floor consisted of mostly killing the same kinds of kobolds and goblins as before, only a bit more in number.

Patting my magic stone-filled bag I set my next destination as the surface.

Exchanging my loot netted me almost another 50k valis. With my expenditures on the lower end, I'm steadily accumulating quite a bit of money for a fresh adventurer. I'm sure there will be something I will be needing it for sooner rather than later, so it's best to save up for now.

After taking a shower in Babel, since I wasn't planning on going to see Eina today, I simply went back to the Hostess and snuck in from the back. The rest of my afternoon I spent in my room, relaxing. Although the day ended up largely the same as the ones before this one, I was much more on edge the whole time. I feel a bit like I've just graduated from kindergarten and I'm starting elementary school. Although with a bit more bloodshed and risking my life thing.

A few hours later I went down to eat and pay the rent. Although I ordered directly from Mama Mia, as usual, I saw that Ryuu-san was one of the waitresses currently working so I nodded in greeting to her, which she reciprocated. I felt bad about avoiding her for the last two days, but I was hella embarrassed about what I said to her the last time. My usual strategy of dealing with similar embarrassing situations is to wait a few days, just enough to take the edge off the associated memories, before casually interacting with the person in question to convey that acting like the event in question never happened is the way to go. This approach served me well throughout the years.

Happy about being back to a neutral standing with Ryuu-san, I finished up my dinner and went back to my room.

After closing the door behind me, instead of going further into the room I leaned against the door and took a long look at the accommodation I was currently using. My cot and my small bundle of belongings were piled up at the base of the left wall and the spare chairs and tables occupied a large portion of the room. No matter how I looked at it, it only looked like someone's temporary lodging. Until now I was so happy that I even had a roof over my head that I didn't think about the fact that this state of affairs might not last as long as I would like it to.

When I asked for accommodations here, Syr said that they don't usually do things like lending out rooms. At the time I was so happy when they did so anyway that I forgot what it means for the long term future. I'm ashamed to say that I'm frankly terrified that one day a situation will come up that will necessitate me leaving this place. Not just because of my inherent dislike of having to find another place, but because it would mean losing the peace of mind that living with such extraordinary people brings.

I can only hope I can acclimatize to this world a bit more before something like that happens.

Letting out a deep sigh I decided to update my Falna before going to sleep.

**Name** Avrora Lvl. 1

**Strength** 333→388 F

**Endurance** 125→163 H

**Dexterity** 163→204 G

**Agility** 330→380 F

**Magic** 629→978 S

**Skills** Invictus

Looking at the magic stat, I could only say 'It's too much'. Even the other stats are going up faster than they should, but Magic is in a league of its own. Other than Magic, the others are going up at about a 10/day rate, which is still fast, but not protagonist fast. Still, the last five days I focused more on refining my current abilities rather than raising them as fast as possible, so it might go up yet.

Shaking my head I closed my Falna. I should just be happy about it. Nearly every adventurer would give up a limb to have a Falna like mine. It's not like I had much of a chance of actually connecting with people anyway, this detail would barely factor into the end result.

So this inexplicable speed of growth is nothing but an absolute win.

Even though the Fifth Floor awaited me the next day once again, sleep did not come easy after that. From the safety of my bed, I've spent some time observing the comings and goings down in the pub with my Territory before I finally managed to fall asleep.

* * *

"Adventurer-san, Adventurer-san! Would you like to employ the services of a lowly supporter such as myself?" The short hooded girl did her best to appeal. "How about it, Adventurer-san?"

Looking at the young pallum girl, who could only be none other than Liliruca Arde, with her chestnut colored hair, same colored eyes partially hidden by her hood and a large backpack on her back, I could only blankly stare for a bit.

Even as I was mulling over how to answer, I tried to remember if I did something to catch her eye somehow, or it was just a coincidence.

I certainly didn't expect to make contact her with this soon, but 'best-laid plans of mice and men' I guess.


End file.
